Unbroken
by KatPeeta23
Summary: After a dark past, Katniss runs into her brother who tells her some life changing information. He has a friend that Katniss soon gets to be friends with, and then maybe it becomes more than friends because he brings a little girl to her kindergarten class to start school. And after some harassment, Katniss soon moves closer to Peeta than she anticipated.
1. Chapter 1

I'm walking along the beach, picking up any shred of sea glass I can find, and putting it in a jar. I've always been this way. Even when I was a kid, I would always collect things. I spot my favorite color, the blue sea glass, and I grab it and put it in the jar.

I come to the beach early in the mornings, just as the run is rising. Not many people are on the beach at that time.

A set of joggers run past me, going in the direction that I am not. I'm wearing an ankle long white sundress that billows with the wind and tan sandals. My hair is let down and is blowing in the breeze.

After a good half hour, I set down my jar and move closer to the water so it laps at my feet. It's cold, but it feels good.

Two boys walk past me. I'm twenty six, and they look to be a little bit older than I. Both boys catch my eyes. One has blond hair and blue eyes and one has dark hair and gray eyes. The dark haired boy looks so familiar, but I can't put my finger on it.

But then, the dark haired boy stops walking and starts whispering to his friend, and then they both turn around.

I'm not okay with men. The thought of them makes me cringe. No, I'm not a lesbian. I'm straight as ever, but I don't trust them. I have a dark history, and I don't like men because of it.

I grab my jar and just as I turn to turn, the dark haired boy says, "Katniss?"

The voice makes my throat get tight, my eyes get wet, and my heart speed up. I slowly turn around to study him again.

That's where I know him front. The dark wavy hair, just like mine. The gray eyes, just like mine. The same nose, the same eye shape, similar lips, but not the same.

This is my older brother, Reed, who I haven't seen, nor been able to find since I was nine years old, when everything in my terrible life got worse.

He stares right into my eyes and takes two steps closer to me. "Is that your name?"

"Reed?" I whisper so quietly that I can hardly believe he heard me.

He moves closer to me but still, I step back. He stops completely and shoves his hands in his pockets.

"I'm not him, Katniss." He says.

It all starts replaying and I take a vicious blast to the past. It starts when I was four and I snuck a cookie and my Dad slapped me. The hitting and beating continued whenever Mom wasn't around. He started staring at me and telling me I didn't need to wear clothes around the house and walking into the bathroom when he _knew_ I was in there.

Until I turned nine, when Mama and Prim went to the store and got into a vicious car accident. They both died instantly. Prim was four years younger than I, so she was only five. Reed however is two years older, so he was eleven. Dad beat the shit out of me that night, and then he raped me. Reed wasn't home when it happened. When he got home though, and he found how beat I was, he was so angry. He'd always been the protective big brother. He knew what was going on. He tried telling Mom, but she dismissed it. She didn't believe him. Reed called child services and we got taken and separated. That was in Maine. I moved foster homes six times a year, and I was beaten at all of them. Right when I hit eighteen, I got the hell out of there, moved from Maine to California, and restarted my life. I change my last name to Joy, which is my middle name, which no longer exists, I went to college on loans for four years, got a job as a kindergarten teacher, and bought a house that looked like a dump when I moved in. after painting, ripping some things out and putting new things in, I renovated the place and moved in. I still live there now. I've managed to move on from the past. I made a few friends that I trust with my life. I don't talk to _anyone_ that has a drop of my blood in them. Reed is the exception. Reed is always my exception. I've been trying real hard to find him.

And here he is, standing right in front of me.

"Katniss." Reed says.

I put my jar down and walk right into his arms.

"You really grew up." He says.

"So did you." I whisper.

The friend runs his fingers through his hair.

"Reed?" he asks.

"Yeah bro?" Reed lets me go and turns to him.

"I'm gonna go."

"You don't have your car."

"I'll call a cab." He says.

"Alright, call me later."

"Okay. Bye." He walks away.

I pick up my jar.

"We need to talk." He says. "I want to know what happened to you. Also, you need to know some stuff about the family that I've been finding out from Gale." Gale is our cousin. He's another exception, and so is his Mother and siblings. I haven't heard from them since Mom and Prim were killed.

"I don't talk about the Everdeen's." I mutter.

"You're an Everdeen." He says.

"Not anymore." I say.

"You changed your last name?" he asks.

"To Joy." I reply.

"Can we go somewhere?" he asks. "I've got an apartment but I share it with my girlfriend and uh…and Gale." I raise my eyebrows.

"We can go to my house." I say.

"House?" he asks.

"House." I reply, and I turn around and head towards the beach.

"I'll uh, I'll follow you." He says. He's got a Ford F150 and I've got a white jeep wrangler with the soft cover, but the cover is tan instead of black.

I nod and get in my car. I start it up and wait till Reed's truck starts and then back out and head to my house.

I pull into the driveway. When I moved in, my yard was all dirt without a single speck of grass in it. I planted grass seed all over and installed sprinklers. I've had grass ever since. My house looks the most presentable in all of the neighborhood.

I get out and lock the door. Reed follows me into the house. When you walk in the door to my house, the first thing you see is a giant picture of me, Johanna, Annie, and Finnick. Finnick Odair is the first and only male I ever grew to trust, and that took me months. Finnick's are is around Annie's shoulders, because they _are_ married, and they have a daughter. Johanna's arm is thrown around my shoulder, and it's actually the first and only nice picture we have, where we're all smiling and all looking at the same camera.

There's a fan with the light on it directly in the middle of the ceiling. The wall in the living room is a dark bray blue. It's not the super dark, though. The floor is hardwood, and it's a light colored wood.

To the left of the door is the kitchen. It has an archway. The counters are a white marble, the floor is a tan tile, and the walls are a light ocean green. All the appliances are steel and the cabinets are white. There's a door on the right wall in the kitchen, that's the pantry. The kitchen is big enough that the table is in there.

To the right of the front door, up in the corner of the living room, there's a hallway. When you walk into the hall you see the same color and floor was the living room. There are lights in it. The first door on the right is the bathroom. The door directly in front of you is a bedroom, the master, my room. Then there's a closet on the left side on the left side of the hall that has towels and blankets folded neatly on each shelf. Right across from the bathroom is another hallway with a door at the end of that and one of your left. Both doors are bedrooms.

When you walk into the bathroom, you see window right in front of you. There's a toilet against the left wall right under the window. Across from the toilet is the shower/bathtub with a curtain that is a beach blue with white dots on it. There's a tan carpet on the white tile floor and the wall is a creamy white. The sink is next to the toilet. The sink lifts out of the counter and it looks like a bin. There's a medicine cabinet that painted the color of the shower curtain. It has a mirror on it. There's a basket underneath the sink counter (which looks like a table, literally) and it's filled with towels. The pull down curtain on the window is the same one as the bathtub, only the window on pulls down like the projection screen teachers use in classrooms. On the windowsill is all my sea glass, cleaned and put into jars.

My room is a very, very light teal, tan carpet, and has a fan in the middle of the room with a light on it. There's a giant window on the right wall that has a white curtain covering it. The bed is a king. It has old fashioned metal headboards and end boards. There's a blue comforter on it and tons of pillows. There's dark wood side tables and a matching dresser. There's a TV above the dresser and a closet in the left corner.

In the bedroom in the other hall that's right in front of you, there is a big bed and a TV and a closet and a dresser and side tables. It's painted tan and the floor is wood. The curtain is white and the window is big.

The other room is easily a bedroom but I made it into a study. It has a TV, a loveseat, a desk, and bookshelves all over.

I give Reed the tour.

Also, I have a dog. She's a Golden Retriever named Abbie. Her food and water is in the kitchen.

There's a door in the kitchen too, that leads into the backyard, which has a pool, nice grass, sings, and flowers planted. I cut all the vines that grow from my neighbors side of the fence. There's another door out where and when you walk in there, it's a place that's like a garage, only there's not door for a car. It's white and has unfinished floor. There's the lawnmower in there and shoves and stuff like that.

"Your house is nice." he says. He drops onto the tan couch.

I have a thing with fans, so every room has a fan in it except the bathroom. Abbie jumps up onto the couch next to me, lays down, and puts her head in my lap.

"Katniss." He says. "What happened to you?"

"I got switched from foster home to foster home at left six times a year and was abused in all of them. When I turned eighteen, I hightailed it here, went to college, got a job as a kindergarten teacher, and bought this house. It looks bad so I fixed it up, and I restarted my life. I changed my last name when I got here.

He nods slowly. "Dad was in jail. They found out what he did to you. He was sentenced fourteen years. He got out and went right into rehab and made himself a better person. Grandma has breast cancer and is going through reconstruction. Grandpa passed ten years ago."

I nod.

"And Prim's not dead." He swallows nervously. "Neither is Mom."

I stare at him. "What?"

"Remember that day? She asked us to go to the store with her. We said no and Prim said yes." I nod slowly. "She was going to take us to run away. She believed me when I told her when Dad did to you. She couldn't force us to go. If we knew we were leaving we would've tried to take our stuff and Dad would've known."

"But the police…they called us! They told us she'd-"

"Her brother was Uncle Haymitch! He's a _police officer_!"

"Who knows she's alive?"

"Everyone but Dad."

"So they're alive?" I ask, swallowing the lump in my throat.

"Are you mad at them?" he whispers.

I shake my head. "She tried to make is not obvious. If he found out he'd have killed her. She tried to get us out. We just didn't go because we didn't know."

"And with us being in foster care, she looked all over for us. Every time she got close, we go moved."

"This is…" I frown. "Prim is twenty two." I mutter.

"But she remember Katniss." He whispers. "She remembers us. They miss us every day."

"Did you go see them?" I ask. He nods. "A couple of months ago. Gale informed me with everything and gave me their address."

"Where do they live?"

"They live in Utah."

"I need their address." I say.

"I'll give it to you. Go see them. I won't tell them anything."

"Okay." I say. I get him a pen and pencil and he writes down an address.

_2630 S 1100 E Salt Lake City, UT 84106(Sugar House)_

He gives me a hug and programs his phone number into my Samsung Galaxy S5.

He walks away, and I wait till he's out of sight and then I go to my room. I get a plane ticket for me to fly there at noon. I take a shower and get out, wrap myself in a towel and then put on a tan dress that goes a few inches above my knee. The top half is lace with a tan fabric blocking everyone from seeing my skin and the bottom half is a not lace and just the tan fabric. The dress is loose where the lace stops. I put on a pushup bra and wedges and panties and then pack my bag quickly. It's summer, so I don't have to work. Then, I throw my bag in my car, bring Abbie, and get my phone and charger, my sunglasses, and ten I lead out. I go right to Johana's house because I know Annie and Finn are there because they were over there yesterday. I wasn't because I had school shopping for work that starts in two weeks.

I walk right into the door with Abbie. Johanna doesn't care if dogs are in her house, expectially not Abbie because she loves her.

"I walk right into the living room and shut the TV off.

"They Kitty." Finn says.

I start pacing.

"What happened?" Annie asks.

"I ran into someone on the beach this morning."

"Who?" Jo asks. I shut my eyes.

"Reed."

"Reed?" Finn demands, standing up, "as in…Reed Jackson Everdeen, your brother?"

"Yes."

He lets out a low whistle. Caitlin comes walking out of the bathroom. She's five. Annie had her when she was twenty.

"Hi Auntie." Caitlin smiles.

"Hi sweetheart," I say, accepting her hug.

"Well what happened?" Jo asks, standing up.

"He…he came over and we talked and he told me that…god. My Dad went to jail for fourteen years. My Grandma has breast cancer and is going through reconstruction, my Grandpa's dead, and…" I swallow.

"And?" Johanna urges.

"Mom and Prim are alive."

"Impossible." Annie says. "You went to their funerals."

"No I didn't. I was in foster care during the funeral. But Mom asked me and Reed to go the store with her that day. She was going to run way from Dad but she couldn't we said no. She couldn't tell us we were going. He'd find out and kill her. Uncle Haymitch called. He's a cop. We didn't recognize his voice."

"Gosh Kat." Annie says.

"I'm going to see them." I say quietly.

"When?" Jo asks.

"I get on the plane at noon."

I look at my watch. It's nine.

I'll have to leave soon.

"Well…someone should come with you."

"I can't." Johanna says. "My brother's wedding is tomorrow. I have to leave in a few hours to go to Phoenix."

"Well…" Finnick hesitates. "Annie, why don't you stay with Caitlin? I'll go with Kitty."

Annie nods. "That's fine. Katniss, Finnick will come with you."

"Take me home to pack." Finn says.

He hugs everyone goodbye, as do I, and then we head to his house.


	2. Chapter 2

Finn is watching me closely, making sure I don't freak. Abbie is with us on this plane and I had to pay a lot of money to get her here. It's Sunday today.

The plane lands and we get off. We get our baggage and get a rental car. I'm driving. Abbie is in the back. It was an hour and a twenty three minute flight.

It's around three in the afternoon and it's a half hour drive but there's bad traffic so it could be an hour drive to Mama's house. I'm scared as to what I'm going to find. But it's Sunday. Sunday's mean that if there is any family in the area, they're over for dinner. Either Mama and Prim aren't home, or everyone is there. I'm dreading both.

"Kitty the light's green." Finn says carefully. I start driving, and we're pulling into the driveway way too soon.

And dammit.

There's so many cars here.

"I can't do this!" I gasp.

"Yes you can!" Finn says sternly. "You love your mother and sister. You've been heartbroken for the longest time! Now they're a couple feet away! Let's go." Finn gets out with Abbie.

I force myself to get out and I feel like I'm going to be sick.

Finn stands to the side and gestures for me to knock. The door is right there. I shut my eyes, and then knock.

I hear a dog barking inside. Mom and Prim always loved dogs. I knew they'd have one. Mom won't care I brought Abbie.

I hear laughter and talking and so much familiarity that I want to run, but I can't, because Finnick isn't going to let me, and because the door is opened. My Nana, my other Grandma, Mom's Mom, opens the door. She looks me up and down, sees my hair, my eyes, nose, mouth, and lips, and then her jaw drops. "Lily!" she calls. "Come here!"

"What's wrong Mom?" I hear Mama ask. Finn gives me a stern look because my eyes are drifting to the car.

I hear footsteps and then Nana moves and there stands my Mother. I size her up. She looks the same. If anything, she looks younger and healthier. She looks right at my eyes and hair and my eight and lips which are the exact same as her. I see realization dawn on her. "Katniss." She whispers. "Oh my goodness." She whispers. She walks right onto the porch and pulls me into her arms. I hug her back, and when she pulls away, she's crying and smiling. "My goodness, you really grew up." She says. "You're so beautiful." She sees Finnick, who's holding Abbie's collar. The house is quiet inside.

"Why's everyone so quiet?" someone asks.

That's Prim. I can tell. The curiosity in her voice is too hard to mistake.

"Who's this? Is this your boyfriend?"

"No." Finnick and I say together. "He's my best friend, Finnick." I say.

"Who's this?" she pets Abbie's head.

"Abbie." I say quietly. "You can it go of her." I tell Finn, and he does and she tries to go right into the house, but all I have to do it snap and she sits down.

"Well come inside!" she says. And pulls us in the house. Abbie follows, and in watch her closely when it comes to my Mom's dog, who is a black lab, a boy.

"His name is Marsh." Mom explains. "Prim named him.

He's not fixed.

Neither is Abbie.

Great.

They already have interest in each other.

"Please tell me she's spayed." Mom says. I bite my lip. She sighs. "Oh well. I like puppies."

"Could someone please explain to me what's going on?" Prim says. She's my height, my size in everything, even boobs. We both look like our mother but I have dark hair and gray eyes. Prim has the blond hair and blue eyes too.

Prim looks me up and down. "Wait." She says. "You're Katniss."

I nod, and this giant smile crosses her lips. She hugs me. "Gosh, your boobs are huge." I smile.

"So are yours."

Prim looks over my shoulder and pushes me right out of the way. "I'm Prim. What's your name?"

"Finnick. Finn smirks.

"And he's married with a kid." I add.

"Oh." Prim's face turns slightly red. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Finn says, shoving his hands in his pockets.

I'm forced to go through the hugging of everyone, and the "Wow you're so beautiful" and "You grew up so much!"

And then I'm sat down, and it all gets serious.

"Honey," Mom says gently. "I know what Ethan did to you."

I look away.

"It's not your fault."

"I know."

"Why don't you tell me what happened after Prim and I left? I assume Reed told you everything."

"He did. No, I'm not mad." I say. I stand up because I don't want to sit. "I went into foster care because Reed called Child Services. I…well they beat me in all of them." Mom sighs. "I turned eighteen and I got out of there. I moved to California…I changed my last name." Everyone raises their eyebrows. "I went to college for four years and then became a Kindergarten teacher. I bought a house and fixed it up and that's how it's been ever since. I met him, Annie, and Johanna in college."

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Mom asks.

"No."

"Why?"

"I don't…I don't do that."

"She doesn't like guys. Well… that came out wrong. She's straight, she just doesn't date people. she doesn't trust guys."

Everyone looks at Finn.

"It took her three months so every look at me." Finn says.

"Word of advice," Prim says. "Don't let our asshole father rule your life. You may think you aren't, but you are. You're pretty and nice. I bet tons of guys have tried to be with you and you turned them all down. You'll die alone if you do that. Don't turn out like that."

"I told her that too. She just doesn't listen."

The doorbell rings. Mom vanishes, and comes back with Reed, and with that guy from the beach. Right away, I get up and move closer to Finn. Reed studies me but doesn't say a word.

I study the guy he's with while he isn't looking, and I will say that he's hot. He's muscular with blond wavy hair and striking blue eyes. He's tall, too.

"Katniss, this is Peeta Mellark by the way." Reed says.

A little girl walks into the kitchen, then. She's definitely going into kindergarten. Her hair is long and blond, and eyes are a striking blue, and she's small. She's adorable. She has on a shirt with Minnie Mouse on it and a pair of jeans. Her hair is left down and tangled.

"Hi." Peeta says to me.

"Hi." I mutter.

"Katniss." Reed says. "What school do you work at?"

"Redwood Elementary." I say.

"Well it looks like she's your soon to be student."

I raise my eyebrows and smile.

"This is Peeta's daughter. He had a surrogate. Her name is Annalise."

"Hi Alice." I say to her, in a smoother, softer voice.

"Hi." She says, and moves to hide behind her father.

She really is a beautiful girl.

….a….

Reed and Peeta are whispering and Reed looks absolutely disgusted. Finn texts me.

Finn: _Peeta has the hots for you. I heard him tell Reed._

Me: _Not going to happen, especially since Annalise is technically one of my students._

Finn: _Kitty you think he's cute. I can tell by the look on your damn face. _

I stop answering him.

"Katniss and I are going on a walk." Finn announces, and he grabs my hand and drags me out the door. We start down the street. "Katniss, he likes you. You want love. You told us that. You want it, you're just scared to take it. You want kids, and a happy life and a family and a husband. You have a perfect house for it, you're a teacher. Katniss, come on. Peeta's a good guy. He likes you. Please give him a chance. Please? Do this for yourself. Don't shut him out. You can move really slow, but please, please try. I can't stand seeing you like this. Even Johanna has a boyfriend."

"I know." I say. "I don't know if I can do it."

"Your father is a completely different person than Peeta. Not all men are like that. The little girl loves her Daddy. He's a good father Katniss. Pease tell me you'll take the chance if it comes. Start dating. I want this for you more than anything."

I shut my eyes. "I'll try, Finn."

"Thank you." He whispers. We go back to the house, and Annalise is playing with Abbie.

"Is everything okay?" Mom asks.

We both nod.

"Katniss, how about you help me with dinner?"

"Okay Mama." I say, and I follow her to the kitchen. I help her cook up some stuff. As I pour oil in the skillet, Mom turns to me.

"Katniss, I want you to loosen up." she whispers. "Peeta likes you and he doesn't know why. He says there something about you. He's a good guy. He's a got lot of money. He donates to charity. That little girl wants a Mommy. I want you to start trying to get out there. You'll die alone, and I know you don't want that. When you were little, all you every wanted was to have a baby and a husband to love you and your child. That could be in the other room. Promise me if the time comes, you'll try."

"I will Mama. I promise."


	3. Chapter 3

I wake a seven and I was almost positive I was the only one awake, but I was wrong. When I walk into the living room, Peeta's awake with Annalise. She's sitting at the coffee table with cereal. Her hair is wild and untamed. Clearly Peeta doesn't brush it. I bet she doesn't let him because it hurts. She's watching mickey mouse.

Peeta looks at me and moves so I can sit.

"Hi." He smiles.

"Hi." I say, and I smile back.

We don't say anything for a long time, and then Reed wakes up. I see him look between the two of us, but he keeps his mouth shut. Finn wakes up and walks out of the room. He picks me up, sits down, and puts me on his lap.

"I woke up at five thirty this morning." Finn snorts. "I got up and I came out here because I was trying to figure out where Annie was and they Caitlin hadn't woke me up. But they're not here, and that was weird."

"I know the feeling." Peeta says, and looks at Annalise.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah Anna?" Peeta asks.

"Can you brush my hair?"

"Are you going to let me?" he asks.

"I don't know." She says. "Try?" she asks. he sighs and gets up. He's shirtless and I find myself following him with my eyes. Finn and Reed start laughing.

"He likes you, you know." Reed mutters.

"So I've been told." Peeta comes back with a hair brush and a bottle of hair detangling.

He can't even finish a strip of her hair before she's telling him to stop.

"No Daddy. It hurts!"

"Anna your hair looks like you put it in knots and sprayed it so it would stay honey. Either you let me do it or someone else has to." He says.

"I want her to." She says, and points at me. Everyone looks at me.

"You really don't have to." Peeta says when I get up.

"It's okay." I say, and I take the spray and hairbrush. His hand brushes mine. Heat shoots up my arm and it surprises me enough to make me gasp quietly. His eyes widen slightly.

Finn and Reed exchange a look. I take Anna's hand and sit down on the floor. She sits in front of me. I completely drench her hair and every time I hit a knot, she cries "Ow!"

"I'm sorry honey, it's just very tangled."

"I don't want my hair brushed no more." she gets up.

I know exactly what to say. I had to use it on Caitlin.

"You know Anna, princesses have their hair brushed. Some Princesses even brush their own hair."

"I want to be a princess." She says.

"If you let me brush your hair, you can be one."

"Okay." She says. She sits back down on the floor. I sit down her again and start brushing very gently. It takes a long time, but finally, I have her hair brushed out. Her hair is wavy. I can't help but thinking that if I _were_ with Peeta, she could be easily mistaken as my daughter. She has similar lips to mine, and a similar nose, and the waves in her hair are like mine.

"I want my hair up." She says. "Like Cinderella!" Peeta disappears and comes back with some hair ties. I put her hair up in a high bun and let some of the curls fall. She truly does look beautiful.

"Help me get dress Mama!" she says. She starts pulling my hand.

"Anna." Peeta says. I'm trying to hide my shock, but it's not working. Finnick and Reed are laughing their asses off. Peeta looks troubled and I'm just surprised. I follow Annalise to her bag and I pick out her tiara and then her dress. It is blue on the bottom and when I get her dressed in it, she really does look like a princess. She goes out into the living room and I follow her. She looks so cute.

"Katniss, I'm sorry she said that. I don't know why-"

"It's okay." I say.

I get a phone call and I look down at the number and see it says Redwood Elementary School.

"Hello?" I ask.

"Hello Ms. Joy." Principle Francesca says.

"Hi." I say.

"Listen dear, I need you to come into work tomorrow. You and Mrs. Odair will be switching classrooms."

Annie is a teacher as well.

"Um, alright then. What time?"

"Whatever is good for you between seven and five. Also, open house will be in one week to the day at ten in the morning.

"Okay."

She hangs up.

I sigh.

"Looks like we're leaving, Finn." I say.

"Why?" he asks.

"They've decided to switch Annie and I's classroom and I have from tomorrow to Monday to have the class ready. I have open house Monday at ten in the morning so I only have a few hours."

"Well we'll come back tomorrow too then and I can help you." Reed says.

"Yeah, Anna and I can help, too." Peeta says.

"I'm calling Annie." I say. I dial Annie.

"Hey Kat." She says. "I presume you're stressed and pissed?"

"Bingo." I mutter.

"Me too." She sighs. On the bright side, Caitlin is your student."

"Really?" I ask.

"Yes." She says. "How's things going?"

"I'll have to explain that to you and Jo when I get home." I sigh.

"Is it good news?"

"Ish." I reply.

"Alright. Well I love you."

"I love you too." I hang up.

"I need to tell Mom." I walk down the hall to Mom's room and wake her up.

"What's wrong honey?" she mumbles, her eyes half open.

"I've gotta leave Mama." I say. She sits up.

"Why?" she asks, more awake now.

I explain the switching of the classrooms to her and ho I have to be at work tomorrow.

"But I haven't seen you in years honey." She says.

"I know Mama. I'm really sorry."

"What if Prim and I come there instead?"

"I mean…I guess you could. I have two bedrooms."

She stands up and puts in her eye drops, and then puts on her glasses and walks down the hall to Prim's room. "Prim get up honey."

"Why?" prim groans.

"Do you wanna go to California?"

"Like move there or just visit? I wanna move, Mom. Reed and Kat are there."

"We'll talk about that when the time comes." Mom says.

"Well yeah." Prim says. "Let's go."

"We need to pack." Mom says.

Prim gets up and goes to the bathroom. I go out to the rental corvette and I get my suitcase. I get panties, a bra, denim short shorts with shreds, a white sweater, a black beanie that's loose and goes more to the back of my head, a necklace with a ring and my red vans. I go into the house and just as Prim's exiting the bathroom, I slip in. I take a shower and then get dressed and braid my hair and then turn the braid into a bun. I come out of the bathroom to see Peeta putting Annalise in real clothes, Finn is completely changed, Mom is dressed and packed and Prim is sitting on her suitcase. Reed walks out of his room dressed.

I buy my tickets and tell everyone what flight I got and we all take it.

..a..

My car is hot as hell. I put all the suitcases in the back. Johanna told me her, Annie, and Caitlin are at my house. I hear home, and it's a while drive, but finally, I pull into the driveway.

"Nice." Prim says. "I like your house Kat."

"Thanks." I say. "When I moved in, it didn't have any grass. I covered it in grass seed and put in sprinklers. It's been good since."

I get out of the car and everyone follows me.

Johanna and Annie and Caitlin are on the porch.

The key's gone." Johanna says.

"What do you mean it's gone?" I demand.

"I mean it's not here."

I always have a spare because I have two sets of keys and I always forget the house ones.

"No." I groan.

I always have a backup. Either I forget the key or I leave a window unlocked, but I clearly remember locking all the windows because I was going to be gone. "Did you try the back door?" I ask.

"I can't jump the fence without help and Annie can't help me." Jo explains.

"Help." I snort.

"How many times have you had to do this?" Prim asks.

"Too many." I sigh, and walk over to the fence. I jump up to grab the top and pull myself up to get one leg over, and then I hop right over. I check the back door and it's locked.

Dammit.

I peek inside to make sure nobody broke in, and then I find a way in. There's a roof window in the kitchen.

The one window I forgot is on the fucking roof.

Dammit.

I hop the fence again.

"It's locked." Jo sighs. "What about the window?"

"I locked them before I left."

"Dammit Brainless," Johanna grumbles.

"I know a way in though." I mutter.

"Which is?"

"Just give me a second to think."

I begin to pace, thinking hard.

Then I climb up the fence, but this time, instead of jumping over, I balance on the top and jump up to grab the roof. I pull myself up and Finn moves to the edge in case I fall.

"What are you doing?" Mom asks. Peeta, Reed, and Annalise pull up. I walk over to the window and after fidgeting with it, I pull it open. I hesitate. Johanna gets up on the roof.

"Are you seriously going to do that?" Johanna asks.

"What is she doing?" Reed asks. Johanna explains what I'm doing and everyone tells me no, that they'll just call a locksmith. When Johanna looks away, I drop in. "Shut the window Jo." I say. She looks down and smirks, and then shuts the window. I walk to the door and open it, and take my shoes off. Everyone comes in, sighing when they feel the air conditioning. Abbie goes right to her water. I give everyeone the tour. Prim and Mom go to their rooms.

"You have a pool?" Prim asks.

"Yes." I say. She dumps her pockets and runs right into the pool.

Finn strips of his shirt and joins, and then Peeta and Reed, and then Johanna, and then Annie borrows one of my suits and joins.

Then I help Caitlin into the suit she left her and help Anna into hers and then I change into my white bikini, and then Mom changes, and then we're all in the pool. The girls stay on steps.

"Daddy I can't swim." Anna says.

So before we know it, we're all teaching Anna and Caitlin to swim. It doesn't take long before they've got the hang of it. We're all laughing and smiling, and then Johanna decided it's time to play Marco Polo. She's it first.

Jo and I are very competitive and very good at this game. I take my hair out to let it flow, and move out of the way. Johanna counts to ten and comes up with her eyes closed.

"Marco!" she says.

"Polo!" we all say, but the girls, who are out of the pool on the deck, playing with the Barbie's I have in the room out here for when Caitlin is over.

Johanna starts moving around, but before I know it, she's three inches away from me, I'm pressed up against the wall of the pool, holding my breath. Everyone is trying so hard not to laugh.

"Marco!" she shouts.

Everyone says polo but me.

"Brainless, I don't hear you." she turns around so her back is to me. Johanna is also a teacher at that our school but she teaches first. She didn't go to her brother's wedding because they cancelled because her brother was cheating.

"She's underwater." Prim says. Johanna moves a foot away from my so I slowly slide out of the water and stand there with a toe in the pool.

"Marco!" she screams.

"Polo!" I say. She whips around and I dive over her head.

"Dammit Katniss Joy!" she says. I snicker. "I'm going to get you." She says. I just laugh, because I won't let her. Se moves closer to Mom, which is right next to me, so I slip under water and move to the low end, and when I come up, Johanna got Mom.

"Wait." Prim says. "Can we go to the beach instead of this?"

"Yeah, let's go to the beach." Mom says.

"I've never even seen an ocean." Prim grumbles.

"Alright, legs go." I get out of the pool and go into the house and get a ton of towels. I pull a yellow sundress over my bikini, and then I get sunscreen, fill an actual picnic basket, with food. Everyone is inside. I get the beach stuff from the outside room and then I take the top off my jeep.

Everyone gets in their cars, and we head for the beach. Prim and Jo changed though.

I get a good spot, and we go out to the beach.

The boys go surfing, and then Johanna and I decide it's time for a round of chicken. I get on Reed's shoulders and Jo gets on Finn's. Reed and I win.

After three hours, we have food and then go on a walk, and then after messing around, it starts to get dark o we go out to dinner. By the time we get to the house again, it's midnight. I set my alarm for six, and go to sleep in my room. Everyone crashes here, too.

I pass out.


	4. Chapter 4

My alarm rouses me, and I get up, mumbling about being tired. I take a quick cold shower to wake me up, and then I go to my room and put on a pushup bra and panties. I put on a my high school volleyball t-shirt, jean shorts, purple vans, and then go and wake everyone up and start making breakfast and coffee. We all eat, I feel Abbie, and then I put my hair up in a bun and head to the car. Everyone gets in their cars and we head to the school. We all go to my old classroom after Annie and I check in.

"Kat I think what we should do is Finn, Jo and Caitlin come with me to my room and you guys stay here. We both pack and put our names on stuff and then start transferring everything.

I nod in agreement. She leaves with Jo, Finn and Caitlin and then I get all the boxes from my cabinet. Everyone helps me start packing. My mood goes from good to bad and I find myself very irritated with the fact that I have to do this. I take everything off the walls and anything not worth keeping, I throw away. I take all the names off the desks. And stack the chairs. This has been my fucking room since I started teaching. I get super mad and start pushing everything on my desk in boxes and I don't realize how angry I'm being until Reed puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Katniss," he says. "You need to calm down. I know you're not happy about this, but getting angry and breaking stuff won't solve anything."

It's then that I see my picture frame with Mom, him, me, and Prim is broken. I take the picture out and throw the frame away. Annalise is sacking the bins after Peeta takes the names off of them. Someone knocks on the open door. We all look up and there's an unfamiliar guy here.

"Who's the teacher here?" he asks.

"That would be me." I say, and I stand up.

"I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. I'm Mr. Martens. I'm taking Mrs. Nicole's place."

"Nice to meet you." I say, and force myself to shake his hand. "I'm Ms. J, Ms. Joy. You can just call me Katniss."

"Okay." He says. "Where are you moving to?"

"Next door." I say.

"Oh." He says. He walks I hear his footsteps go, I mutter, "I don't like him." And keep packing. By noon, everything is packed in both room and the boxes either say Katniss desk or something like that or Annie desk. It's random stuff like that. We start moving stuff and I'm in Annie's room and she's in mine.

I go back to my old room.

"Ann," I say. She looks at me and she looks about as happy as I am. "Let's just be happy we still have the adjoining room thing." She nods and starts unpacking her desk. I sit down in my car and start unpacking my desk everyone works together and by the time is hits five, I'm almost halfway done.

When we get home, I go right to my room and don't come out for the rest of the night.

This is a repeat for the rest of the week, except the next few days, Mom forces me to eat dinner.

On Saturday, we go on the boat.

We go to an island with a forest big enough to get lost in. I go wandering through the woods after getting bored, and end up finding a little pond with colored fish in it.

After a while, I don't know how long, someone sits down next to me. I'm expecting Mom or Annie or someone, but it's Peeta.

"Hi." He says.

"Hi." I reply.

"I just wanted to warn you that I'm having troble to get Annalise to stop calling you Mommy or Mama. I think she's going to do it in class."

I shrug. "She's a little girl. She wants a Mom and she doesn't understand why she doesn't have one, she's creating herself one. There's nothing wrong with that."

"I agree, but I don't want you to get in trouble at work. I can have her switched to someone else's class.

"It's fine, Peeta, really." I say.

He sighs. "Alright." He gets up and walks away.

Jo sits down with me a while later. "Ann is still super pissed about switching rooms." She says.

"Same here." I sigh. She cuts right to the chase.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"About?"

"Peeta." she says.

"I already made a promise to Mom and Finn to at least take the chance if it comes."

"Katniss the chance is sitting on both of your guys' shoulders."

"I'm not taking action. It's hard enough for me to do it at all. I won't start it."

"And I understand, but the way he looks at you is…the way Finnick looks at Annie."

I start shaking my head. "I'm afraid of love, and besides, Finnick loves her. Peeta doesn't-"

"Katniss yes he does!" Jo says. "I think he fell in love with you at first sight. And believe it or not, but I think you have feelings for him. I think you have major feelings for him. I think your being too shy to do something about. Your twenty six now. You're not getting any younger. That little girl is calling you Mommy and you sure as hell look like her. You could be her mother. I wish you would just hear me out. Try and please do something to get home with you. You like him. You look at him like Annie looks at Finnick. Katniss, this is serious."

"Jo." I whisper. "I'm scared."

"He has a daughter Katniss!" she snaps.

"Yeah?" I yell at her. We're close enough that everyone can hear us. "Well so did my father; and he still did what he did, so excuse me for being afraid! I get that you want the best for me and that I'm single and always have been, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to rush into a relationship with a guy I just met yesterday! God, back the fuck off me!" I turn around and storm off. When I'm out of sight, I start crying. I'm so fucking done. I stomp through the forest barefoot until I find a bush to hide in. I don't know if I can have a relationship. I especially can't be the one to start it. I don't know him yet.

I come out of the bush and climb a tree and wait.

They're going to come looking for me.

I'm not ready for a boyfriend. Mom and right though, that I'm not getting any younger, but that doesn't mean I can get in a relationship. I don't know anything about him except that he's a nice guy with a cute daughter.

Sure enough, people start looking for me. I can hear Finnick yelling at Johanna.

Mom looks up into the trees and spots me. Prim is with her.

"Go away." I snap.

"Come down here." She says.

"No!" I snap.

"Your being a child, Come down here."

"I'm not being a child!" I snap.

"You're hiding in a tree." Prim says, and the three of us start laughing.

"Please just come here." Mom says. I force myself to get out of the tree.

"Let's talk." Mom says. She leads me away from the others. Prim remains with us.

"He knows." I state simply.

"Well…yeah." Prim says.

"This is embarrassing."

"He understands. He feels bad for you."

"I'm tired of people feeling sorry for me. I'm not the same little girl I used to be. I know how to take care of myself. I've got thicker skin now. I'm not broken or bruised. I've taken back my life and I'm tired of people trying to hand it back to me. I want to do things at my own pace. I'm stronger than I've ever been."

"I know." Mom says. She sits down and I sit next to her. She starts running her fingers through her hair. "Do you remember when you were little and there was this girl that wanted to be your friend? You were too shy and you wouldn't take the chance of having a friend." I nod. "What did I tell you?

"You told me I had to dance instead of sitting out. And then you made me listen to a song."

"Do you remember the song?"

"Vaguely."

She pulls her phone out and starts playing the song.

_I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,_

_You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,_

_May you never take one single breath for granted,_

_GOD forbid love ever leave you empty handed,_

_I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,_

_Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,_

_Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,_

_And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance._

_I hope you dance...I hope you dance._

_I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,_

_Never settle for the path of least resistance_

_Livin' might mean takin' chances but they're worth takin',_

_Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin',_

_Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,_

_When you come close to sellin' out reconsider,_

_Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,_

_And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance._

_I hope you dance...I hope you dance._

_I hope you dance...I hope you dance._

_(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,_

_Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone.)_

_I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,_

_Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,_

_Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance, _

_And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance. _

_Dance...I hope you dance. _

_I hope you dance...I hope you dance. _

_I hope you dance...I hope you dance.. _

_(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along _

_Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone)_

"Sweetheart," Mama whispers. "You're losing your sense of wonder. You're taking your breaths for granted. You're sitting out. You're not giving faith a fighting chance. You're on the edge of selling out. Living is taking chances that you aren't taking. Loving is a possible mistake but it's worth it. You're settling for a path of least resistance. You're breaking my heart to see you like this. You are a beautiful young women that deserves to feel happy. You deserve to feel different kinds of love. You weren't born to feel miserable. You were born to be happy. You would be a great mother; you'd be a great wife. There's a guy out there, whether is Peeta or not, that loves you for who you are. Someone out there is meant for you. There's a little girl that wants a mother and thinks she already found one. Please don't make yourself live like this. Dance sweetheart, dance."

With that, she gets up and walks away with Prim following behind her.

It sit for a while, just thinking.

Mom's right. I'm not dancing, and I should be.

Confidence and determination takes over and I get up.

I don't want to sell out. I'm going to reconsider. I'm going to give faith a fighting chance. I'm not going to take any breaths for granted. I'm going to take chances. I'm not going to sell out.

I'm going to dance. The sun is beginning to set when I turn to go back towards the group. I stay at the shore and follow the water, grabbing every speck of sea glass I can find. When I get back to the group, nobody says anything, they all notice, but they act like I've been here the whole time. I put the glass in my jar and turn to Jo.

"Sorry for shouting." I say.

"Sorry for pushing."

We don't say anything else. That's how we are.

"We should camp here." Prim says. We can sleep under the stars."

Peeta's sitting next to the water, watching Anna and Caitlin play. He's alone, and nobody's bothering him. I can tell there's a reason. I pull my sundress back on. The sky is dark now and the stars are out. Everyone starts a fire, but Peeta remains alone. I put down the sticks in my hand and ditch the group and go sit next to him. He looks at me and then looks away.

"Katniss, I didn't mean-"

"I'm sorry."

He cuts off. "For what?"

"For being, A, a douche bag and B, talking about you. I'm just stubborn."

"It's fine. Listen." He says, and turns to face me. I turn to face him. Both of our legs are crossed. The girls are closer to the fire now, and everyone is watching them and being quiet to secretly eavesdrop on us. "I'm sorry for…well, you having to find out how I feel about you from other people. I should have just told you but I know your past and I'm just sorry."

"It's okay." I whisper.

"So…friends?" he asks.

I smile. "Friends."

"So…friend." He smiles. "I don't know anything about you."

I smile. "Well, ask away."

"Let's move closer to the fire first. It's kind of chilly." He stands up and grabs my hand. h pulls me to my feet and the heat there lingers until the heart from the fire takes over. We don't sit with everyone, but we sit closer than we were.

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know. Were supposed to know the little things.

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Um…whats your favorite colr?"

"Oh, now you've just stepped over the line." I say, and we both chuckle.

"Seriously though, what is it?"

"Green, like the forest." I say, gesturing to the trees. "What's yours?"

"Orange."

"Like Johanna's bathing suit?" I ask, looking at Johanna's neon orange bikini.

He smiles and shakes his head. "No, like…the sunset."

"That's pretty." I whisper.

….a….

By the end of the night I learn that Peeta doesn't like sugar in his tea, he always sleeps with the windows open, he always double knots his shoelaces and he grew up in New York, New York with his two older brothers. When he turned eighteen he moved to Malibu for college for business. In his second year of college he switched to teaching. When he paid the surrogate to have Annalise, he moved to Fort Bragg. Now he currently owns a three bedroom house and he teaches at Fort Bragg High school teaching English.

He is super easy to talk to, and it's at night when I realize that I think Johanna's right. I think I could like Peeta Mellark.


	5. Chapter 5

I wake up on the beach. Everyone else is awake.

Except Annalise, who must have woken up in the middle of the night and moved from Peeta to me. She's using my arm for a pillow too, and she's nestled right up against me.

"Sorry." Peeta whispers, kneeling down next to me. "I didn't know she moved and well…you guys looked so comfortable when I woke up…"

"It's okay." I whisper. I can't bring myself to get up because she looks so happy and comfortable and cute.

"We need to get going soon." Finn says.

"Yeah, I really need a shower." I say. "I feel crusty." Everyone laughs. Peeta helps me up and then I pick up Annalise. We go to the boat after everyone grabs something. I lay Anna in on a seat. Peeta sits with her. I start up the boat and pull up the anchor, and then we take off.

…a…

I spend the rest of the day writing down everything I have to target when it comes to open house tomorrow. I think up everything and when I'm done I call Annie. We compare stuff, and then I get changed into pajamas. Everyone is gone. Mom and Prim are still here, but they're staying here. I make macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and chicken. We eat at the table and then we watch Identity Thief and then I go to bed.

….a….

By nine, I'm ready for the orientation. I'm sitting at my desk with my feet on my desk. The door is propped open. Annie's here too, and Caitlin is in here playing with the toys.

Peeta swore to me that he would be there first. I took another shower this morning and I'm wearing jeans, a white tank top, and a jean jacket.

"Auntie?" Caitlin says. "I need to go potty."

"It's right in that door honey." I tell her. All of the kindergarten rooms have bathrooms in them.

She goes in the bathroom and shuts the door.

"When am I gonna see Mommy?"

"In just one second Anna, and I told you to stop calling her that." Peeta sighs.

"No! She's my Mommy and I love her!" Anna takes off running right down the hall, right past my room.

"Caitlin go to your Mom's room when you get out. I'll be right back." I say. I rush out of the room and nearly slam into Peeta.

"I think it's time we just let her call me Mom." I say.

"Agreed."

She's running away, right for the street. I run after her. "Annalise!" I call. "Stop!" she stops mid tracks and spins around. She's crying, hard. She's hysterical, really.

"If I can't have a Mommy then he can't have me!" she says, and she sits down right in the road and starts crying into her knees.

I pick her up and walk her into the classroom. Peeta's quiet. I sit her down on my lap at my desk.

"I want a Mommy so bad. You can't be my Mommy. Because _he_ won't let you!"

"Hey." I say, making my tone stern. "Don't do that. That's mean. You can call me whatever you want, okay?"

"So I can call you Mommy?"

"Yes. You can even tell your friends that I'm your Mommy. Now. Go apologize to Daddy. It's not Daddy's fault."

She climbs down and goes over to Peeta. He picks her up. "I'm sorry Daddy. Can I call her Mommy?"

"You call her whatever you want." She smiles. I put the packets with everything the parents need to know about the class on the desks. All the kids have assigned seats and I put Caitlin and Anna together. They chose their seats on Friday. Annie comes in with Caitlin.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah." I sigh.

Finn will be coming to sit in here for Caitlin. Annie's forcing him. He thinks it's bullshit because I'm his best friend. Whatever. Finn comes strolling in. He sits down at Caitlin's seat. He starts rifling through the papers.

"What is this shit?" he demands. I cross my arms and sigh.

"Finn, can you at least try to care that your daughter is going into Kindergarten?"

"I care but you're my best friend. I don't have to be here because you can tell me everything."

"Well stop complaining. You aren't getting out of this." Annie snaps.

"Sorry." He grumbles. "Seriously, what is it?"

"That's the forms yu have to fill out."

"For?"

"The school."

"You can't minimize them?"

"I can't. It's school board policy."

"Um," Finn sighs. "If she's talking to any boys I want to know. I don't care if he's just letting her use a crayon or something. She's five. She doesn't need boys."

"I'll tell you."

"And me." Peeta says. "She's adorable. She can only have girlfriends. Not boys until she's eighty."

"I'll tell you too.

Finn stands up because his knees are hitting the table. He makes Caitlin sit there, and Anna sits next to her.

Annie leaves because she sees two parents and a kid walking down the hall.

"Katniss can I ask you a huge favor?" Peeta asks.

"Sure, what is it?" I ask.

"I have open house tomorrow and I can't bring a five year old. Do you think you can take Anna home with you and let her spend the night and I can pick her up when I'm done tomorrow?"

"Sure, that's fine." I say.

"I packed her a bag just in case. I'll get it, and her car seat. She's not allergic to anything. She'll eat anything if it looks good. If she says she doesn't like it, make her eat it. She'll need a bath tonight, too."

"Alright." I smile. "Would you like that Anna?" I ask. "If you have a sleepover at my house tonight?"

"Okay!" she smiles huge. A young woman walks into the rooms with a little boy behind her, hiding. Peeta moves close to Anna and whispers something to Finnick. If I had to take a wild guess, I would say that this girl was fifteen when she had her son because she looks twenty.

"Are you Ms. Joy?" she asks.

"Yes, hi." I shake her hand.

"This is Ethan. He's…he's nervous."

"Hi Ethan," I say.

"Do I just find his name?" she asks.

"Basically just do what they're doing." I say, gesturing to Peeta and Finnick, who are both standing behind their daughters with their arms crossed, their legs slightly parted, looking ready to kill anyone that'll look at their daughters.

"I'm glad I came here." Finn whispers to Peeta. The girls are giggling and looking at the boy.

A Mom, Dad, little girl, and older girl come in. I sake their hands and learn this is Lauren. She sits across the room.

More people keep arriving and when it hits ten thirty and the room is half full, I decide to just start.

"I'm going to just start." I say, and the chatter stops. "I guess I'll just start with me. I'm from Brooklin, Maine. I lived in the same house until I was nine, and then there was a problem and I became an orphan. I was in foster homes until I turned eighteen. I moved here and started college for teaching. I got a house and made some friends and I started teaching after graduating. I strongly believe that the parents and teachers are a very active role in the children's education and only together we can get them to reach their full potential. What I'm going to focus on this year is language development, promoting an appreciation for diversity, incorporating active learning, providing opportunities for investigation, exploration, and discovery, encouraging a positive self-concept, promoting a creative expression, fostering positive interaction with others, and developing work habits and school routines. The kids will have P.E. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they'll have music. We visit the library every Friday. School starts at 8:05 but the kids can arrive at 7:30. School gets out at 2:45. The bathrooms are in the classroom." I point to the corner. "All staff has Identification badges and all visitors must check in at the office. If your child has medication they have to be given to the nurse. I can't give them their medicine and they _cannot_ have them brought to school with them. The kids must have a towel with them for quiet time, in their backpacks for the first week needs to be an index card with how the kids go home. And I ask of you to please practice reading with your child so one day, your child can read to you. If your child is having a problem, if it's with another kid at school, or they're not understanding, don't hesitate to tell me. And…I think that's all. And questions?"

One parent raises their hand right away. "Do the kids get recess, and what time is it, and lunch?"

"The kids get recess, yes, at ten, and lunch is at eleven thirty."

A lot of the hands drop. I point to someone else.

"If our child has a lunch box or something, where would that go?"

"Oh, right." All of the kids have bins." I lift one up. "Their names are on them. Their stuff goes in there."

Another hand raises, and it's Finnick. I can tell this is a legit question, not a sarcastic one. I point to him.

"When are these papers due?" he asks.

"Thursday, the twenty first."

Another hand raises and this time it's Peeta. I point to him. "Is that the car circle?" he points out the door.

"No, that's the bus circle. The car circle is down there. We walk the kids there. Make sure you guys have papers with the kids of their bus numbers, and make sure you have a paper on your dashboard of the kids names'."

"What happens if we can't pick the kid up one day?"

"Then enroll them in the YMCA or get someone else to pick them up." I say, trying to keep the sarcasm from my tone.

Anna starts pulling on Peeta's hand. "I want to go home with Mommy when I can't with you." She whispers.

"We'll deal with that when the time comes." Peeta says.

I man raises his hand. "I have a favor to ask." He says.

"Okay." I say.

"If my daughter is hanging out with boys I want to know. She's five. She doesn't need boys." I smile. "I'll notify you if she is." One more person raises their hand.

"I have a personal question." One man says. "First, how old are you?"

"Twenty six." I reply.

"Okay. Are you single?"

A lot of the adults in the room start laughing. "No…sorry."

"Well, if you _become_ single." He gets up. "Here's my number. Come on Cole. Let's go."

"I guess we're done here then." I say.

People start getting up and grabbing their stuff. Some people stay to look around the room and others come up to me to tell me their concerns. "Jacob is very shy. He gets very frustrated."

"That's okay. I'll try and break that habit."

Some other people come up to me about allergies with their kid and some kids getting mad and throwing things and bathroom issues. I nod about all of them and tell them I'll keep an eye out, and then soon enough, it's just me, Peeta, Finn, and the girls again.

"So…" Finn trails off, and then he smirks. "Who's your boyfriend?"

I look at him with an angry expression.

"Katniss." Finn sighs. I rip up the guys phone number and throw it away.

"I don't have a boyfriend." I snap.


	6. Chapter 6

Mom and Prim went home. I have the house to myself again, which means I can walk around naked again. I keep the front door locked. The door is locked because I'm naked and the curtains are closed. I've got a blanket covering me and I end up falling asleep on the couch watching CSI.

The next thing I know, my alarm is ringing. I sit up in confusion. I slept right through the night and now it's the first dy of school. I jump up and take a shower, shave, brush my teeth and then get dressed in a white dress that flows from the beginning of the hip down. The dress ends a few inches above the knee and I wear a light colored denim jacket, and black flats. I put my hair up in a bun, and I double and triple check I have everything and then I head out. I stop at Dunkin Donuts for a muffin and coffee and eat and drink everything in the car. I have a mint too, and then I park next to Annie who pulled in at the same exact time I did. Jo parks next to us. She was here the day of the orientation in her classroom in first grade.

"I tried calling you eight times last night." Annie says when I get out. She's wearing a tan pencil skirt and a black button down shirt tucked in but loose and heels. She looks cute. Jo is just wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Caitlin is with Annie. Her hair is in a ponytail and she has on pants and a pink shirt with a heart on it. Her little backpack is Princess Belle and Annie is holding it.

"I fell asleep around three because I was doing the thing where I walk around naked and I feel asleep with Abbie and I woke to my alarm. I'm sorry Annie. What is it you needed?"

"I was just freaking out and I was nervous."

"Sorry." I say.

"It's okay." She says.

The three of us walk into the school together. We check in and then walk to our classrooms. I set everything up and the bell rings. Peeta and Anna are the first ones here. He drops her off.

"I'm going to be late. Call me when you get off. We need to talk."

"Okay, have a good day." I say. He kisses Anna's forehead and runs off.

"I'm nervous Mama."

"I know honey. Come here sweetheart."

She walks over to me and I pick her up. She gives me a hug, and I set her down.

"We have to wait outside." I say, and I take her outside. Annie walks Caitlin over to me and kisses her forehead. The girls sit down on the line for my classroom. Other kids come. Some are without parents. Some have parents. Some parents stay with their kids, others take them here and leave. I calm down the kids that smile and make them smile. When the late bell rings, I let the kids inside and help them find their seats and help them put their stuff in their cubbies.

I go talk to all the kids that are crying. The only kids that don't really care at Caitlin and Anna.

After a few minutes of chatter all the kids are done crying.

"Guys." I say, and after a few tries, they all stop. "How about we play a game." I say. "When I do this, you guys have to stop talking, okay?" I raise my hand. "We can make it a game. Whoever stops first when I do that, wins the game. All the kids agree. "Raise your hands if you like coloring." I say. All the kids raise their hands. "Do you guys want to color?" I ask. They all nod. I pass boxes of crayons to every table. "Share the crayons." I say. I pass out worksheets. "Make sure to put your names on the bottom of the paper. If you need help, raise your hands. I'm Ms. Joy."

….a….

The day went by smoothly.

Until the end.

That guy that asked if I was single came to pick up his kid today.

He grabbed my hand and kissed it, and then kissed my cheek and told me I was beautiful the look on my face made me not get in trouble because I looked just as shocked as anyone else.

Right there.

In front of everyone.

I went home crying, and I forgot to call Peeta. Annie and Jo saw it. Jo was on bus duty and so was Annie.

My phone is shut sitting on the coffee table, and the door is locked, and I'm sitting on the couch with a tub of ice cream, eating it, staring blindly at the wall. My phone has rung ninety times. Each a lttle bit from everyone.

Finally I get a text from Peeta that says.

Peeta: _I'm coming over. Your scaring the hell outta me._

I get one from Reed that says: _I'm on my fucking way._

My heart drops to the floor when I realize that the guy has my phone number.

The only reason I realize that is because I get a text from some random number that says, _Hey beautiful._

I get another one that says, _I'd love to see what's under that black bra, underwear and white dress of yours._

I burst into hysterics and Abbie comes and lays right on top of me, licking my tears away.

Someone, I'm assuming Reed, bangs on the door. "Katniss, open the goddamn door!"

I was right, it is Reed.

Peeta joins him soon, and then Johanna, and that's when they get in because Jo knows where the key is. I cover my head with the blanket from the couch and run for my room.

"Katniss." Johanna says.

"What happened?" Reed demands.

"Today at the bus that guy kissed her hand and cheek."

"He's texting me." I whisper. Peeta disappears and comes back with my phone. He looks angry, too.

"Don't let him get to you. You're okay. Tomorrow I'll say something."


	7. Chapter 7

I learnt to hate my job, and to dread going, because within a week, it's gone from a crush to harassment. He messages me all the time, he tries kissing me all the time. His lips press my skin somewhere every day. The principle told him one day to back off.

You know what he said?

"No."

"Listen." Johanna says. "Lay another finger on her and you'll see stars." She hisses. The kids don't hear it, but I do, the principle does, and so does the guy.

"Try me." he takes a step closer to her." I see Johanna's jaw tighten, but she steps back. Her hands are clenched and if looks could kill, he'd explode and she'd explode his remains.

One day, when everyone is over, in late September, he shows up at the house. I open the door and just as I close it, he pushes it open. Peeta, Finnick, and Reed block the way from me. Annalise moves right in front of him and punches his private parts with her tiny fits. "Stay away from my Mommy or I'll do it again!" she says, and she steps on his foot.

She moves back then, and Peeta takes a step closer. "Leave her alone."

"Make me." he says.

He doesn't hesitate. He grabs his shirt by the scruff of the neck. "If you ever come back here I'll kill you." He hisses. "I'm in love with her." He shoves him out the door and slams it.

He probably scared the shit out of him.

But he just said he's in love with me.

Peeta's in love with me.

Peeta turns to me. "Katniss, I'm sorry." He says because he realized what he'd said. I shake my head.

"I'm going in my room." I walk away.

….a….

I haven't seen Peeta since the incident yesterday. Work is dreadful today. He grabs my wrist so I can't go into my classroom. "I'll get to you. Be thankful your little boyfriend was there yesterday."

That time, I didn't get out of work before I was crying.

I didn't go home, either, I went and sat on the side of the road in the car, and I called the police and explain everything.

When I got off the phone, Peeta called me.

"Hey." He says softly. "Where are you?"

"Sitting in the car." I whisper. "Annie told me what he said to you. Katniss…" he sighs. "Do you want to be alone?"

"No." I whisper. I start crying harder. "I can't drive."

"Where are you?" he asks.

"I'm on the side of the road on Glass Street."

"I'm coming to get you." He whispers.

I'm about to have another wave of tears, so I hang up on him.

He shows up in less than ten minutes. He pulls up right behind me and walks over to the door. I grab all of my stuff and get out. I lock my car. He pulls me into a tight hug. I hide my face in his shoulder. "When we get to my house I'm going to put Anna down for a nap." He says.

"Okay." I whisper.

We get in his car, and right away Anna demands, "What's wrong Mama?"

"Nothing honey, I'm just tired." I lie.

"Oh, okay." She says.

…..a…..

When Anna is asleep, Peeta comes out into the living room. "Let's go." He holds his hand out. I take it, and he doesn't let go. He pulls me to his room. "Lay down." He says.

"Peeta." I say.

"We won't do anything, I swear." He says. "Just lay down." I hesitate, but I do go and lay down. He lays down next to me and rolls onto his side so he's facing me. I turn to face him, too. "I really hate that guy." He mutters.

"Me too." I whisper. "He scares me."

He changes the subject. "You need a nickname. And _Kat_ or _Kitty_ will _not_ do." He says.

"What do you have in mind?" I ask.

"I'm thinking baby." He says. "But that's a relationship nickname…" he trails off. We don't say anything for a few minutes.

Finally, I whisper what's really on my mind. "Peeta, I can't be friends with you anymore."

He sits up, looking alerted. "Is it because I said I wanted to call you baby? Katniss-" I sit up and push him so he's laying down, and then I climb right on top of him.

"No." I whisper. His eyes slowly turn to dark blue and he's holding his breath.

"Why then?" his voice is hushed.

"Because friends can do this." I link our fingers. "Or this." I kiss his cheek. "Or this." I kiss him, right on the lips. The heat of his mouth on mine lingers in the silence.

He sits up suddenly, pushing me down onto my back gently and climbs on top of me.

"What do you want then?" he whispers.

"Oh, I think I've made that clear." I whisper.

"So if I asked to you to be girlfriend, would you say yes?"

"Why don't we find out?"

"Okay. Katniss Joy, will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes." I giggle and kiss his cheek. He gets off me and sits next to me. I sit across from him.

"I have to tell you something." He says.

"Okay, what?" I ask.

"Well…the old English teacher at my work was fired. His classroom is right next to mine. There's a girl I know, she's having some issues at her work and I was thinking, what if she takes over the job as the English teacher and start working next to her boyfriend?"

"Interesting proposal." I say. "I'm taking off work tomorrow. You'll have to let me think about that."

…..a…..

I go rushing into Finnick and Annie's house. Johanna's here.

"We kissed." I blurt.

"What?" Johanna asks, dropping her feet off the table and sitting straight up. "You and the ass or you and Peeta?"

"Me and Peeta!" I say.

"And?" Annie urges.

"And we're dating!" I say. "I called the cops on the harasser. I'm kind of quitting."

"What?" Johanna and Annie ask, outraged.

"I'm quitting."

"Why?"

"Because I got a new offer." I say. Peeta says if he goes and talks to the principle, I can come in for an interview if he's interested. He says he'll call my by nine tomorrow morning.

….a….

I go the job. I quit at Redwood. I start on Monday. Peeta picks Anna up and shows up at my door.

"Katniss." He says.

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing." He says, and he pulls me to my feet and hugs me. It's a long hug.

"Hi Mommy." Anna says. She gives me a big hug. "I love you."

"I love you too." I say, and I kiss her forehead. "Want a snack kiddo?" I ask.

"No thank you." She says, and goes out back and comes in with the toys.

She starts playing with them on the living room floor. Someone knocks on the door. Probably just Reed or something. I pull it open. My eyes get huge, my mouth gets slack and I start closing it but he caches it with his hand.

It's not the creep from work.

No, this is much worse.

This is my father.


	8. Chapter 8

I told Mom I had thicker skin. I told her I could take care of myself.

I meant it. I stand my ground.

"I'm not here to do something." He says. "I've been to jail, and rehab. I deserved the death penalty for what I did to you." Peeta becomes alert and he moves up behind me with his arms crossed, clearly saying he'll fight him if he has to.

Dad looks over my shoulder at Annalise. "Congratulations."

I don't say a word and I don't tell him she's not mine.

"Look. I don't expect you to forgive me. I just want you to know that I truly am sorry. Your mother would have been so proud of you."

With that, he leaves.

I shut the door calmly and lock it, and then I move across the room and pick up my phone, and I do a mass text to Johanna, Annie, Finnick, Reed, Mom, and Prim. All I put it 42.

That's our group code for him showing up.

I get an immediate text from Jo.

Jo: _is this a joke?_

Me: _no_

In a matter of ten minutes, everyone is here and Prim and Mom are on skype.

I explain everything.

After chatting for a while, everyone leaves but Peeta and Annalise. Peeta gets a phone call. It's from Rye, the middle brother, Peeta being the youngest.

"Hello?" he says.

I don't eavesdrop, but he looks surprised. "Okay." He says. "Um…I plan on it. I might bring someone." He scratches the back of his neck. "Yes, this someone is female." He sighs. "I love you too, bye."

He turns to me. "My family is moving."

"To where?"

He hesitates. "Maine."

I bit my lip. "Where in Maine?"

"Sedgwick."

"That's ten minutes away from where I grew up." I whisper.

"Katniss." He says. "Will you come with me to go up there for Christmas?"

"No."

"Please? You'll be with me the whole time. If he is there, he can't get to you. Don't you want to see where you used to live? My family is going to want to meet you."

I hesitate for a long time. "Okay." I sigh. "I'll come."

…..a…..

The months fly by. I'm settled at work with Peeta. Annalise is seriously like my daughter. Peeta and I are way more serious and there has been a lot of dangerous play, hands in sensitive places, and a lot of make-out sessions. One time we were both completely nude when I made him stop. I told him I wasn't ready and he told me he'd be okay if I was never ready, as long as I was his and he was mine.

It's official. I'm in love with him.

He shows up at my house on the day we leave for the trip. I'm very nervous. A, I'm returning back home, B, I'm meeting his family, and C, I'm in love with their son. Peeta kisses me right when he sees me. "Are you ready to go?"

I nod. We load up my car. I have my own car seat for Anna in my car. Peeta has started referring to me as Mommy when it comes to her. If she wants something, he sometimes says, "Ask your Mother."

I don't mind. I like being a Mommy.

We get on the plane just as they're closing the gate. Anna sits between the two of us. She's so excited to go see her family.

Peeta's excited too, but I feel like I'm going to be sick. Peeta's concerned about me. I'm fine, just nervous. I loved winter as a kid. I remember that time I threw a snowball at Reed so hard he got a concussion and I got grounded. I remember Madge and Sae and I remember sleep overs at my Nana and Papa's and how my brother and sister and I would spend the night in each other's rooms on Christmas Eve. When Mom was around, my life was god but if she left to go to the store, if was bad. Mom was my security blanket.

I'm starting to get a little excited. I've got nothing to be afraid of. Dad's probably going to be at Grandma's in Vermont anyways. Peeta will be with me the whole time. I've got nothing to be afraid of.

Peeta has me switch seats with Anna, and he grabs ahold of my hand and kisses each of my knuckles. "I love you." He says.

"I love you too." I reply.

We sit there the whole ride. He keeps telling me loves me, and finally I rest my head on his shoulder and make him think I'm sleeping.

…..a…..

When we land and walk into the airport, there's a blast to the past right away. I remember leaving this damn state from this airport. Peeta has one hand with me and the other with Anna.

After an argument as to who's driving, I win because I know the area.

Last time I've been in snow, I was eight.

I miss it.

Peta tries to get me to use the GPS but I turn him down.

And I make a wrong turn, and I end up going right through the heart of Brooklin, where I grew up.

"I don't have any service. How are we going to find their house without GPS."

I sigh and pull over in front of the shop I know Sae used to work in. it's named the same. Peeta, Anna and I get out and go inside.

And there's Greasy Sae. And sitting at the bar is Madge.

I turn to walk out, but Peeta stops me. "It's okay." He whispers.

I shut my eyes for a moment and walk right to the counter and sit down. Sae gasps, and Madge looks downright shocked.

"Girl, it's been ages!" Sae says, and clambers around the counter to hug me. Madge won't stop smiling, and she hugs me, too.

"This your girl?" Sae asks, and points to Annalise.

I hesitate. "Yeah." I say.

"Well hey there girl, I'm Sae, what's your name?"

"Annalise." She says proudly. She straightens up and looks at Peeta.

"You must be the partner."

He nods.

"You better treat that girl right. She's been to hell and back." Sae goes back behind the counter and sits down. "I'm surprised you came back." She says.

"Is _he_ still here?" I ask.

"Nope. He moved to Vermont when your Grandma got cancer."

"He's gone?"

She nods. "Nobody lives in your house. I own it." She hands me the key. "Your room is still put together."

I hesitate and turn to Peeta.

"Are you in a rush to get to your Mom's?" I ask.

"Nope." He says.

"We'll come back." I say. I walk out the door. Peeta and Anna follow me. We don't take the car. It's a short walk and a waste of gas. I stop in front of the house and just stare at it.

"We don't have to honey." Peeta whispers.

"I need to. I think it'll help."

"And I want to get some things."

"Katniss." He says quietly. "People are staring."

"I don't care." I brush the snow away to see if it's still there, and it is, my little handprint, right on the steps.

I look at the oak tree out in the yard. "Maximus is buried under there." I whisper. "My old dog he was a husky. Such a god dog." I sigh. I put the key in and I turn it.

And I walk in the door. There's a rush of memories right away. Christmas of 1995. The beating, the rape.

"Can you go into the basement and get the boxes. The door is the last door on the right, directly down that hall."

He sighs, but walks away. I start grabbing anything that has any sentimental values. I even grab that damn cookie ja that started the beating.

I take everything, from pictures to clothing in my Mom's room to shit in Reed and Prim's room. I stand outside that door.

"Katniss." Peeta says. "Honey, please don't upset yourself.

"I'm okay." I whisper, and I walk into my old bedroom. The bed hasn't been touched. The covers lie the exact same way. My dresser is still filled with jewelry and Knick knacks. I collected shit all the time. I grab _everything_. All I don't take is furniture.

"Honey, how are we going to get this on a plane?"

"We'll drive."

"With what car?"

"The rental."

He sighs. "Alright."

"I want to show you how bad it was." I whisper. I reach under my mattress and grab the cold, hard object. I pull it out and Peeta's eyes widen to saucers.

"Where'd you get that?" he asks, grabbing the gun.

"I found it in my Dad's drawer and stole it. I just need one more thing and we can leave.

I get a shovel and dig up the time capsule me, Mom, prim, and reed most prized possession is in here.

I cover the hole and put the shovel back and we leave.

"Katniss, what's in that box?" He asks. "It better not be an animal." He says.

"It's not. It's a time capsule Mom, Reed, Prim, and I did. We go back to Sae's and get directions and I give her the keys and tell her I took a lot. She didn't really care. We head to Peeta's parents.

"Open it." Peeta says.

"I can't. Not until Prim, Mom, and Reed join us." He sighs.

Prim was three when we did it, I was seven and Reed was nine. Dad didn't do it. He didn't want to.

We pull into Peeta's parents driveway. "My family is differ met form yours. They know your past. They will question. Rye and Grahan and Justice and Kegan will hit on you. Seriously you can tell them to F off. They're blunt and nosy and they swear a lot. You have been warned." I sigh with nerves. I get out and get Anna. Peeta takes my hand and leads me inside. He doesn't knock, he just walks in.

"Well that's just fucking stupid. Dump his ass."

That's the first thing I hear.

"Told you." Peeta whispers.

"Grandma!" Annalise squeals, and she runs off.

"They're here." Someone says. Peeta holds onto my hands he follows the direction Annalise went.

"Peeta I need your advice." A girl says.

"What's up Lynne?" He asks.

"My boyfriend made a sex tape without another girl and he sent it to me on accident. Should I watch it and break up with him or should I just break up with him?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want revenge?" I ask.

She sizes me up. "I like the sound of that. What do you have in mind?"

"Break up with him and leak the video on a fake Facebook and tag him and the other girl in it.

She snaps her fingers. "I like you. I'm Lynne Kate.

She walks over to me and sticks her hand out. "Katniss Joy." I say.

A boy walks over to me and shoves Peeta, throwing his arm around my shoulder. "Hello beautiful." He says. He kisses my cheek. "You are delicious."

"And taken." Peeta pulls me out of his grip. "Katniss, this is my brother, Rye."

"Hi." I say.

Three more boys come into the room. They shove Peeta

And surround me.

"Do you like Peeta enough to not sleep with one of us?" One asks.

"Yes." I say.

Peeta rescues me again.

"Katniss, this is Graham, Justice, and Kegan."

Ton of people shake my hand and introduce themselves. Peeta leads me over to a woman who looks my Mom's age with blue green eyes and blond hair.

"Mom." Peeta says.

"Hi honey." She hugs him and kisses his cheek. She looks at me. I see her size me up. "You must be Katniss." She smiles. "I've heard tons about you. You are very beautiful. Peeta told the truth." She gives me a hug. "I'm Peeta's Mom."

"It's nice to meet you." I smile.

"Where's Dad?"

"He's in the garage. He is very excited to meet Katniss. Your his first son with a serious girl."

He nods and leads me to the garage.

"Dad." Peeta says.

"Peeta! My boy!" A man that looks like Peeta but older hugs him. "You look so happy my boy!"

"I am very happy." Peeta smiles. He looks at me.

"You must be Katniss." He smiles.

I can tell the father is the one I need to be impressing. "I'm Peeta's father. Wow, you are even more beautiful in person. You make my son very happy. Your father would be proud if he weren't a sleaze ball." He says. "I like you Katniss."

"Thank you." I smile.

Peeta looks so happy. God, I love him. He takes me back in the house and I help Lynne make that bastard feel like shit. Then, Anna calls me Mama in front of everyone, and the room goes silent.

Peeta quickly explains that she keeps saying it and it's just kind of stuck.

"What's up?" I ask Anna.

"Something's wrong with me Mommy I need to talk to you alone."

She pulls me out the front door and starts crying. "My tummy hurts really badly."

"What does it feel like? Does it feel like you have to go potty?"

"No." She shakes her head.

"Does it feel like your going to throw up?"

She nods.

I pick her up and go in the house. I tap Peeta on the shoulder and just as I start explaining that Anna feels like she's gonna be sick, she pukes all down the front of my shirt. Peeta's jaw drops and everyone gets quiet.

Then she starts crying again. "I'm sorry!" Puke is all over her, too.

"I'm going to take a shower." I mutter. "With Anna."

"Okay. Leave the door unlocked and I'll bring you guys clothes." Peeta says. Mrs. Mellark points me to the bathroom and shows me how to start the shower and and tell me to use whatever I need. She gets us towels, too. I start the shower and get both of us undressed. I've taken showers with Anna before.

I wash her first and then I wash myself. When I'm rinsing off my body, Peeta comes in. "I'll lock this. Listen, I go you jeans and a sweater, okay?"

"Okay." I say.

"And I'm throwing these clothes away." He adds.

"Please do." I reply. I hear the lock click and the door shut. I wash us twice then get out. I wrapt myself in a towel and wrap Anna in a towel. I get dressed first and then get Anna dressed. I hang up the towels where I was told to. When I come out of the bathroom with Anna, Peeta is pacing.

"Are you okay?" He asks when he sees me.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" He asks.

"Yes. I'm a hundred and fifty percent positive that I'm okay."

He pulls me into his arms right in front of everyone. I hug him back. He kisses me before turning to Annalise.

"Am I in trouble?" She asks.

"No." He says.

"I don't feel good." She says. We let her go lay down and put a bin next to her bed just in case. A half hour later, she comes out of the room. "I feel better." She sits down on my lap.

"Good." I smile. Peeta sits down next to me and kisses my cheek.

"Feeling better?" He asks Annalise.

"Yeah Daddy." She smiles.

"Katniss honey, how about you help me with lunch?" Mrs. Mellark asks.

"That's a sign." Peeta whispers. "She's gonna question you."

I smile to Mrs. Mellark. "Sure."

Peeta gets up and goes oee to her. "Please don't be too hard on her."

"Peeta, don't worry about it." Mrs. Mellark brushes him off. He sighs and walks away, but he's watching. I help her wash the fruit.

"So..." She says. "Your brother is nice. Very respectful."

"And protective."

She nods. "I know what happened to you, darling." She says. "Peeta tells me your mother and sister are alive."

"Yeah." I say. I explain the situation and she nods the whole time.

"What is your Mom like?"

"She's very nice. She's like me but has blond hair and blue eyes. She's very loving and she almost always has a smile. She loves to paint and she loves puppies."

She smiles. "She sounds like me in a way. How's your sister. Prim, is it?"

"She's good. She's very loving and very wise. She loves animals, especially bunnies."

She's quiet for a moment. "What are they doing for this holiday?"

"Reed is flying there and they're having Christmas. The rest of my family won't be there. I don't know why."

"Well how about you go ahead and call your Mother and invite then here?"

"Oh no. My family can be loud. I don't want to impose-"

"Honey, it's not imposing if you've been invited. You haven't had a Christmas with your mother since you were nine years old. Call her and invite her."

Peeta comes over and kisses my cheek. "Are you okay?" He asks.

"Yes." I smile. "I have to go make a phone call."

I walk away, and I hear Peeta say, "What did you say to her?" To his mother.

I sit down on the porch swing and call my Mama.

"Hi baby." She says. "How are you?"

"I'm okay. I saw Sae and Madge."

"You did?" She asks.

"Yeah. Sae owns the house. Peeta's Mom wants you guys to come here for the holiday. She's very persistent."

"I don't know honey. It's expensive."

I hear Reed and Prim talking in the background. She says something to them and then says, "Can you pick us up from the airport at eight?"

"Yes."

She hangs up and I go in the house. Peeta looks very frustrated and he's arguing with his Mother.

"She's very dentition about that topic."

"Peeta, your overreacting. She's a strong woman."

"Mom. Please don't scare her away. I really love her."

"Oh knock it off, Peeta. She's fine."

Everyone is listening to them argue, and I'm standing right in the doorway and everyone knows I'm here but them.

"Mom." Peeta looks very frustrated. "I think she's the one. Stop being insensitive with her! Your being heartless."

"Peeta." I say quietly. I'm masking my emotions big time right now. He spins around.

"Katniss-"

"Your being rude." I say.

"How?" He asks.

"She didn't do anything wrong. She's your mother."

"But she was completely insensitive about your feelings." He says.

"She didn't upset me. I'm a big girl Peeta. I can take care of myself."

He runs his fingers through his hair.

"How long have you been standing there?" He asks.

I spin my phone in my fingers. "Long enough." I say. "I need your help."

"Katniss..." He trails off.

"It's fine, Peeta."

"No, Katniss-"

"Peeta it's fine."

He sighs. "What do you need help with."

"We need to get the car empty and I have to leave at six."

"To go where?"

"To get Mom, Prim, and Reed."

"Can I come?"

"The car seat is in the car and I have to fit three people and their luggage."

He sighs. "Okay."

...8...

Rye, Graham, and Peeta got everything out of the car. I'm standing in the airport impatiently. I get a text from Mom.

Mommy: _Just landed. See you in ten._

I go get Starbucks for all of us, and when I come back, they're there. I hug them and give them their coffee's, and we leave.

…..a…..

We pull into the driveway, and I get out and go right in the house. It's ten, and Anna is awake, throwing a tantrum.

"I want Mommy." She says.

"Well Mommy isn't here." Peeta says, flustered. I walk into the living room and Anna looks at me, and walks right over to me and raises her arms.

"Well you tuck me in?" she asks.

"Alright." I go and put her to bed, and I read her a bedtime story. I walk back into the living room and Peeta hugs me and kisses me right away.

"Sweetie." Mama says. Her voice has that "You are in so much trouble" tone to it. She's too sweet and calm to be happy with me. "Is there something's you've forgotten to tell me?"

She stands up and crosses her arms.

"No…" I say carefully.

"Okay." She says. She looks me square in the eye. "Are you sure?"

I look at Reed. He makes that "Fuck she knows" face, and then looks down at his phone.

"I think…" I trail off.

"Okay. So you didn't get harassed? You didn't quit your job and move to high school? You didn't have an encounter with your _father_?"

Fuck. I did forget to tell her.

"Mom-"

"No. Katniss, I thought we had an understanding?"

"I'm sorry Mama…a lot has been going on and-"

She puts her hand up. "Nope, it's fine. I don't want excuses."

She heads for the door. "And you probably forgot to tell me _you have a boyfriend_." She walks right out, and lets the door slam behind her.

I turn around and go after her, a little bit angry.

"Mom." I say.

"Katniss!" she whips around, and she's pissed. "You've been through hell! I haven't seen you since you were nine! You've been struggling and you've got a boyfriend and you didn't even think to tell me?" she's yelling.

"Well excuse me!" I yell back at her. "It's not my fault you left! You took Prim and left! I always knew she was your favorite! And besides, I'm not used to having a mother to talk to. I bet if you actually tried, it would've been pretty fucking easy to find me in a foster care!" Peeta, Reed, and Prim come outside.

"Favorites? Why would you think I don't care?" she snaps.

"If you really wanted me and Reed to come with you, you could've lied and said that you had to take us to the doctors because you forgot we had physicals! But no! Instead you took your little girl and left!"

"Reed." She looks at him. "Do you feel that way too?"

He shrugs. "She's got a point."

"So I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I'm not exactly used to having you around."

I take off down the road.

I go lean up against an old oak tree, pull my knees against my chest and just let the tears fall.

I get up and move then, and I walk to Sae's, which takes twenty minutes. It's open, and I walk right in. she's empty, but Sae's here.

"What happened, girl?" she asks.

"Mom and Prim aren't dead." I say, and I explain everything that's happened to me since I was nine years old.

I finish with, "And now I'm supposed to be impressing Peeta's family and I've done a _really_ shitty job."

She pours me some beer, and pours herself some.

"Girl, I think you've got it all wrong. I think your Mother cares. If she lied like that, he'd catch on. Magically you guys get into a car accident? He wouldn't have been arrested because you wouldn't have been raped, and he would have found you guys. Your mother loves you guys very, very much. She is _not_ picking favorites. She really did you a favor by taking Prim and leaving."

I'm quiet for a while. "You're right. Now I feel like a bitch."

"You're not a bitch. How about you stay the night here and go home in the morning? If someone shows up, I'll say I haven't seen you and go help look."

"Okay." I whisper.

….q….

Sae tells me they searched everywhere.

I get back to the house by six, which is now. I walk into the door quietly, but everyone is awake.

"Katniss." Mom breathes. She doesn't hug me, she just grabs both of my hands. "I'm not picking favorites-"

"I know. You love us all. You couldn't lie. If you did I wouldn't have been assaulted, he wouldn't have gone to jail and he would've found and killed us all."

Now she hugs me. "I'm sorry sweetie."

"It's okay." I mumble, and I hug her back.

Peeta hugs me then, and his grip is tight. "Let's walk." He says, and he links his fingers with mine and pulls me back out the door.

We walk for a long time, until finally, he turns me to me. "What do you think about marriage?"

I shrug. "Depends…If it's with you…then I'm interested. If it's not, I don't care."

"What do you think about children?"

"I want them." I say.

"Do you want to be a legal mother?" he asks, stopping to face me.

"Depends on the child." I whisper, my heart racing.

"What do you think about…engagement?"

I'm quiet for a long time. "I suppose if it were to happen now…I would say yes, but I don't want to get married right away, and that doesn't mean we can rush into it. I'm not ready for sex Peeta. It would take a long time. I don't want to move in together until we're married. I don't want to jump into this. Being engaged is okay…but I don't want to rush."

"Okay." He says. "We go at your pace for it. You come to me when you want to get married. When you're ready, you show me."

"Okay." I whisper.

"Now that we've passed that…will you marry me?" he asks after dropping down to one knee and digging the ring from his pocket.

For him to be down in the stance in front of me, and to actually ask the question, it makes me cry.

"Yes." I mumble, wiping my tears. He smiles and puts the ring on, and then picks me up and twirls me, which makes him slip on the ice, and fall. But he doesn't care. We start making out like that, but the whole time we're smiling. He gets up eventually and lifts me up onto his shoulders.

"I love you baby." He says.

"I love you too."

We go back to the house to deliver the news, and there's an unexpected car in the driveway.

He walks in the door with me on his shoulders and I have to duck way down, and my back still hits the ceiling until we're in the door.

The expected car brought along four people.

Jo, Ann, Finn, and Caitlin.

"You guys look so very happy. What happened?" Mrs. Mellark asks curiously. I lean way down to see Peeta's face. He reaches up and grabs my hips and pulls me off of him.

"Do you want to tell them or do you want me to?" I ask softly.

"Whatever you want." He says.

"Then you can tell them." I smile.

"Okay." He takes a deep breath. "We're engaged."

Nobody reacts at first, and then Mrs. Mellark and Mom start tearing up. "You guys are engaged?" Mama asks. We both nod. "Oh my goodness, my little girl is getting married!"

Everyone starts taking at once and we're overwhelmed in hugs.

Johanna, Reed, and Finnick all go over to Peeta when it all calms down.

"Peeta, you know I love you, bro." Reed says. "But you hurt my sister…you won't even see stars. You'll see blackness."

"Yeah." Finn says. "Treat her like royalty."

Johanna grabs his hand and I can tell she's hurting him. "She's my best friend. Treat her like a princess and you'll never feel what's worse than this." She releases him.

Nobody speaks for a while. "I have a surprise for you guys." I say, and I point to Mom, Prim, and Reed.


	9. Chapter 9

I come into the house with boxes, a ton of them. Peeta scurries to help me, and Mrs. Mellark sets out a sheet on the table. I get the most special box and I put it in another box and bring it in. Mom almost starts crying when she finds out I got her mother's wedding dress.

Everyone is a happy, and I'm very happy that I did this.

"What's in that?" Prim points to the box in my hands.

"This." I say. "Is one that means a lot to all of us." I open the box and set the other box on the table.

Even Prim remembers what it is. All of our most prized possessions are in here.

"I remember." Prim says. "We made a time capsule. When I was four."

"What's is it?" Anna asks.

"It's a time capsule. You bury something important to you in the yard and someone from the future will one day find it." Prim answers.

"Mommy, did you do it?" Annalise asks.

"Yes I did, honey."

Peeta comes up behind me.

"Who opens it?" Prim asks.

"I think Katniss should."

Everyone mumbles in agreement, and I pull the key off of the duct tape on the top of the box.

Slowly, I insert the key and turn it. The lock clicks and I open it.

Gosh, it makes me smile. Mom, Prim, and Reed move closer to see. Peeta gets out of the way.

I take the photograph if the four of us out. I'm on Reed's back and Mom is holding Prim. I love this picture. We all look happy, but I can see a bruise on my arm, and I remember I told her Dad did it and he said I fell. She believed him.

There's a letter. Mom wrote the whole thing in cursive, but on the back she wrote it in print.

"Read it aloud. Gosh, I can hardly remember what I wrote."

"If your reading this, that means you live in the future. That, or my eight year old daughter, Katniss, dug this back up to get her baby blanket out. If that's the case, shame on you sweetheart! I've told you to let it be! Anyways, this box is from the year of 1995."

"Gosh." I mutter. "I remember I wanted to dig it up so badly. This blanket was my best friend. I cried in it all the time. I couldn't sleep without it. Reed convinced me to put it in and told me I could get it back before bed. I cried myself to sleep last night. I started digging it up once, but you stopped me. When I'd thought you guys died, I was going to dig it up. But...life had different plans."

"You loved this blanket. Gosh, you took it everywhere with you. You used to blow your nose in it." Mom laughs.

"Did we wash it before we put it in?"

"No." She laughs.

"And then there's my damn bear. I slept with it and I talked to it. I told it all my secrets. I remember once the dog are it's head off." Mom nods.

"I sewed it back on. You nearly lost it."

"What'd I put in there?" Prim asks.

"You put in your bear. Remember honey? With the pink ribbon?"

"Yes! I remember once I stole Kat's blanket so she made that damn dog eat it's arm. We both got in trouble, but you fixed it for me."

Mom smiles and nods.

"What'd you put in?" Reed asks Mom.

"I put in my blanket too."

"Oh yeah." I say. "That blue one, since Papa thought you were a boy?"

She nods.

"Prim shoves everything out of the way, pushing my blanket on the floor, to grab helper bear. Reed snags his bear and walks away, his interest lost. I grab my blanket off the floor and go into the living room.

"Baby." Peeta says. "Don't you think that maybe you should wash it?"

"No!" I say, outraged.

"Honey, your eight year old snot is on it. Come on, just wash it."

"No." I say.

"Please? You trust me, right?" He holds out his hand for the blanket. I stare at him for a long time before letting him take it. The blanket is a quilt. There a blue squares with flowers, blue and white Cherokee boards, pink with floreer, pink with checker boards, and them the same thing with green and white. The edges of the blanket is pink and white checker board.

After Mom argues with Prim and Reed, they throw their stuff in the wash with mine and Mom's. I stand there and monitor him after double and triple checking that he doesn't have any bleach.

Then, I sit on the floor of the tile garage, freezing my ass of, waiting. Peeta went into the house after a few minutes and came back and sat with me.

"I love you baby." He whispers, and kisses my cheek.

I turn and kiss him right on the lips, deepening it right away. We make out for a good ten minutes, until I pull away because I hear voices right out the door.

"What if they're doing something?" Prim asks.

"I don't give a fuck, just go out there."

Peeta grabs me and pulls me onto his lap to cover the bulge in his pants.

Prim and Reed walk out and study us, before deciding the coast is clear. They join us and we sit until the laundry beeps. Peeta let's me get up and his bulge is gone.

I change the wash over and put it on for ten minutes, and then I pace till it beeps. Mine is still damp, but I take it out anyways. I put it around my neck and pull my hair out of the way. Peeta follows me inside.

"I'm going to go lie down. I didn't sleep much last night."

"I had a bad night. I'll come with you." I say.

Johanna snickers. "Keep it down. We'll make sure to knock."

I scowl at her, but I don't correct her. Everyone laughs, and I follow Peeta to the bedroom. I lay right down and cover myself with my blanket. Peeta lays down next to me. I slide into his arms and we just lay there with him holding me, and I end up falling asleep.

...9...

When I wake, I'm alone. The sun is bright, and my blanket has made it's way over my face. Even as a kid, I always managed to cover my face with it when I was sleeping.

I go into the living room.

Peeta and I end up going out shopping for Christmas stuff.

The rush is crazy and overwhelming.

I run into a lady who has a baby and a little two year old. She's walking with her husband.

"What's wrong?" Peeta asks.

"I think i'm changing my mind."

He stops in his tracks. "About what?" He looks fearful.

"Us."

"Katniss-"

"I don't think I want to wait too long to get married. I want to be the mother of Annalise, and I don't know...but look at all these people with kids. Don't you want to be a family Peeta? Don't you want a baby?"

"Katniss." He says. "We go at your pace. Don't rush yourself because you like what you see. I want you to know when it's going to work."

"Peeta, I think I know. I don't think I want to stay in California. I want to go somewhere with four seasons. Peeta, what if we go to Montana!" I say excitedly.

"Katniss honey." He says. "We aren't even married yet. We have our lives started up in Fort Bragg-"

"Yeah, and the stalker and my Dad know where I live. Peeta, come on! Please, just think about it!"

He sighs.

"Alright."

...9...

We go back to the house and end up playing a game where we all have to tell a secret about ourselves that NOBODY else knows. It's a trust game.

I think I'll fail. As anyone might know, I don't open up easily. With Peeta, if he didn't already know my past, I probably wouldn't have told him unless we were engaged.

Honestly though, I can't think of anything.

"Peeta, it's your turn."

"Okay...um..." He thinks for a while. "Remember that girlfriend I had? Hanna?"

"Yeah, you guys lasted two weeks."

"Yeah, I lied. I didn't break up with her because she cheated, I broke up with her because she tried to have sex with me."

"Peet, she was hot. Why didn't you want her?"

"Because I knew she wasn't the person I was going to marry."

"Then why'd you date her?" Mrs. Mellark asks.

"Because Dad wanted me to get a girlfriend."

"Okay Katniss." Mrs. Mellark says.

"There's two but I'll just say one..." I take a deep breath. "Mama, remember when I came home from school when I was seven and I had a broken arm?"

"Yes, you feel off the monkey bars."

"Um...no I didn't. I beat this boy up because he said I was cute."

"And I covered for her..." Reed mutters. "I said I was there when she fell. I was there when she beat him up."

It was Reed's turn anyways. That counts as a secret.

They move on, and then it gets to Peeta. "I don't know anything else to say." He says.

"Well then it's Katniss's turn."

"Okay...um. I can play four instruments."

"And she can sing." Prim says.

"Your lying." Johanna says. "What can you play?"

"Piano, drums, guitar, and violin." I say.

Everyone is supposed, but they move on.

We finish when we get back to Peeta because I'm out and so is he.

I grab Peeta's hand and squeeze our linked fingers gently.

He looks at me, and I kiss him. "I love you." I whisper.

"I love you too."

"Kitty can sing too." Finn says. "And sea really good." I wave him off.

"Well I'm kind of going to need some proof of that. Keyboard or guitar, your choice?"

"Can I choose not to do it?"

"No." Everyone in the room says together.

I groan.

"Fine, um...keyboard."

Rye walks away. He comes back with a keyboard and the stand.

"Sing a breakup song." Prim says. "Sing what you would sing to Peeta when you guys break up." Prim says.

That earns a death glare from both Peeta and I.

"When?" I ask.

"I meant if." She says.

"It's not when and it shouldn't even be if." I mutter.

Prim sighs in irritability.

"Just sing."

"Fine. If we break up, this is what I would sing."

I start to play, and then after forcing myself, I start to sing.

Their jaws are slack when I'm done.

Peeta kisses me.

"Do you want to go somewhere with Anna?" I ask.

"And you?" He mumbles. I nod.

"Sure." He gets up. Rye takes away the keyboard. Peeta gets Anna ready and I get dressed in outside clothes.

"Where are we going?" Peeta asks when we start to walk.

"To see an old friend of mine." I say.

We walk into town and go to Sae's.

"Hey girl." She says. Someone sitting at her bar spins around.

I take one look at him and turn to leave.

It's too late. He noticed me.

"Hello, sweetheart."

He looks over my shoulder and Peeta, and them at Anna.

"Married?" He asks. I shake my head. "Engaged." I nod. "Are you her biological mother?" I shake my head. "Are you legally her mother?"

"Not yet." I mutter, crossing my arms.

"That's an old coat." He comments. It's faded and I've had it for years. I'm only a teacher. I don't make a lot of money. "Let's take a walk, shall we?"

"Katniss." Peeta grabs my hand.

"It's okay." I say, and I follow him out the door.

We walk in silence. His hands are shoved in his pockets.

"I owe you." He says. I look at him in confusion. "I made a mistake. Your my niece. I helped your mother get out of there and I didn't come back for you and Reed. I owe both of you." I stop walking and cross my arms. "I've come into some money."

He explains. "Or a lot of it. So...I'll buy the house you want and help with bills. I'll pay for your wedding, and you go as expensive as you want. I'll get you clothes, too, along with the boy, your daughter, and any other children you have."

"Uncle Haymitch, that's..."

"It's not unnecessary." He cuts me off. "And I wasn't asking anyways. How's my sister?"

"She's fine."

He nods. "I have a question." He says. I look at him again. "Are you marrying the boy and becoming the mother of that little girl because your mother and brother and everyone wanted you to or are you marrying him and becoming the mother of the girl because you actually love them and want to spend the rest of your life with him?"

"I love them. Both of them." I say.

"Are you just saying that?"

"No. I love them with everything in me. I'd do anything for them."


	10. Chapter 10

Two weeks and two days later, we're back at work. I haven't seen Peeta since we got off the plane.

Two days is the longest we've spent apart in a while.

I'm not telling my students we're engaged and neither is Peeta.

If they notice, whatever. I'll tell them then.

I overslept today, so I don't even have a chance to say hi to him because they already have students in the classroom and they're subbing for me.

I go in, and Peeta's in there, and she's the one subbing.

The door shuts, and he turns around.

"I thought you have a class right now…" I trail off.

He shakes his head. "First period is my planning, remember?"

"I thought sixth was your planning? It's the same as mine."

"No, they changed it." He says.

"Since when?"

"Since a month before break."

In fact, we haven't even told the students that we're dating. They suspect it, but we don't confirm it.

"Are you guys like…secretly married or something?" Megan asks.

"No." Peeta and I say together.

But then, Nicole gasps. "But you're wearing a ring! You didn't have that when you left for break!"

"Yeah! Ms. J, what's up with that?"

"You're engaged." Lauren says.

"To who?" Mary Kate asks.

I drop my bag on my desk. Peeta's hands are shoved deep into his pockets and he's being completely silent, letting me deal with it.

"Guys-" I begin.

The whole room is talking now, about me being engaged.

I shoot Peeta a glare, which makes him start laughing. "I should go." He says.

I drop my voice to ensure that only he can hear it. "Stay." I whisper. he searches my eyes for a minute, and then drops down in my desk chair.

"Alright guys, be quiet!" I say, my tolerance slipping away. The kids fall silent, and then Marie raises her hand. "Yes Marie?" I ask.

"If you tell us who it is, we'll pay attention the whole entire class."

Peeta sighs, puts his feet on my desk and says, "It's me."

"How'd you do it?" Tyler blurts.

He shrugs. "I asked if she'd marry me and she said yes."

The kids sigh. "Now that they know," he turns to me. "I need a favor."

"What?" I ask, rummaging around the bag I brought in for my little notebook laptop.

"I have an eye appointment after school."

"And?" I ask.

"I need you to pick up Anna for me."

"Is she sleeping over?" I ask.

"I don't know. I guess."

"Okay." I sigh. "Now get out, you're distracting me."

He stands up and snickers, muttering about how I originally asked him to stay.

"What are we doing today?"

"Well, we were originally supposed to be starting Romeo and Juliet today, but I overslept, so now we're just going to do a worksheet that reflects on the past semester since your midterms are in a week. Yes, it's graded, it's worth a hundred points, think of it as your pre study guide. Turn them in to me at the end of class."

After about ten to twenty minutes, the bell rings, and all the kids rush out after giving me their papers, and right away, I hear someone shout, "Ms. Joy is becoming a Mellark!"

Peeta slips back in the room as the halls flood with students. He checks to make sure it's empty, and then he says, "If you think you're not sleeping over tonight, you are sadly mistaken."

I smirk. "Yes sir." I salute to him.

He slips back out, and I go to stand at the door. He stands at his door and students slip past. Some of them stay silent, but most of them say, "I knew you guys were up to something."

The next two periods fly past. Peeta and I both have second lunch. I don't have a class fifth period, but he does.

I grade the papers from today. Someone from my third period got a 56 on it. She failed.

This is like the entire exam!

No. there has to be a reason. I clearly remember Yasmin working on it. She was working hard, too. She must need help. I go and search her name in my book and find out she's in Peeta's class right now.

She's going to fail the exam.

I sigh and get up. The lights are off in his room, but I know he's watching a movie. I slip into the classroom. They're watching Romeo and Juliet.

I can't find her in the dark, so I go next to Peeta, behind his desk and kneel down on the floor.

"What's wrong?" he whispers. I take his phone and shine the light on the worksheet. His eyes widen.

"This is basically the exam." I whisper. "Is she in here?"

He nods. "She's in the middle row, third seat."

"Thanks." I whisper. I stand up and go over to Yasmin. "Can you come with me honey? Bring your stuff."

She nods, gets up and grabs her backpack, and she follows me to my room, which is literally right next door. The space separating Peeta and I's doors is little a foot of wall space.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asks.

"No." I shake my head. "I want you to answer me this question honestly." I say. She nods. "Have you been understanding what I've been going over?"

Slowly, she shakes her head.

"How long have you been lost?" I ask.

She won't look me in the eye while she whispers, "Since we finished the Odyssey."

I let out a very long sigh.

"I wish you would have come to me." I sigh.

"I'm sorry." She says.

"What do you have to do after school?" I ask.

"Nothing. I go home on the bus and my Mom gets off work at six. I do homework right when I get home and then I help my Mom with dinner."

"Are you an only child?" I ask. She nods. "And what about your father?"

"Mom let him when I was little because he wasn't very nice to…either of us."

"Do you think you could be able to stay after school until the exams?" I ask. "And I'll help you for a while. You can stay here until six, and then your Mom can come get you?"

"I can call her and ask." She says.

"Sweetie, if you don't do this, you're going to fail the midterm and they count as an entire marking period."

"Okay. Can I call my Mom?"

The bell rings.

"Where do you go next?" I ask.

"Lunch."

"Okay. Call your Mom then."

She does, and her Mom says she'll get her at six.

"Only, I have soccer practice until three." She says.

"Okay, that's perfect because I have to pick up my daughter after school today."

"Okay. You have a daughter?" she asks.

"Well she's Mr. Mellark's daughter but I'm going to be her Mother and that's what she calls me, so yeah."

"Okay. I'll see you after school." She smiles. She grabs her bag and walks out, and Peeta walks in a minute later since we're both on lunch.

"I won't be home till six."

"What about A-"

"I'm picking her up but she'll have to come here with me. I'll come over after six, okay?"

"Alright." He says. "Did you forget food again?" I nod. He has his lunch box, and he gives me first pick. I take his apple and half of his sandwich. He went to the vending machine too, and he got us both Gatorade.

"What's your eye appointment for?" I ask.

"I need glasses." He grumbles. I raise my eyebrows.

"You'll look super sexy in those big square glasses with the glass rims." I say, taking a bite of the apple.

"Yeah, I might just get contacts." He says.

"Get both." I say after swallowing and taking another bite.

"Why?"

I pause to swallow. "Because I want you to get glasses." I say.

"Okay. You have glasses, right?" he asks.

"Yes, but I wear my contacts and bring my glasses."

"Do you have your contacts in?"

"Yes. I have very bad vision. I have restrictions on my license, actually."

"Do you have your glasses?" he asks.

"I always have them honey." I say.

"Will you take out your contacts and wear them?" he asks. I finish the apple and toss the core.

"Will that make you happy?"

"Yes." He says.

"Alright." I take out my contacts and put my glasses on.

He grins. "If you wear them tomorrow all day, I'll wear mine."

"Deal." I smile.

We fall into a comfortable silence. I eat my half of the sandwich and drink my Gatorade, and toss the bottle. I start grading papers again, and he's watching me.

"Two days is a long time." He says. I smile, double and triple check nobody's watching, and then I kiss his cheek.

I go back to the papers, and then the bell rings. He kisses my cheek super quick. "I love you." He says.

"I love you too." I smile, and then he gets up and walks out. Kids come racing in and they're all talking about how I'm engaged.

I take attendance, and then I pass out the papers and explain to them what to do.

"Any questions?" I ask.

A hand shoots right up.

"Yes?" I ask Jake.

"When did you start wearing glasses?"

"I've always had them. I have contacts in but I took them out." I explain.

He nods, and then they start working.

I finsh grading the papers. Most of them are A's and B's.

The people that finish start doing homework for other classes.

….s….

I go racing out of the school right when the bell rings and go flying down the road to pick Annalise up. I get to her school just as the bell's ringing. I have to go in to get her, and it's weird walking down to my old classroom. Anna is so happy that it' me picking her up. She skips down the hallways in front of me. it's only two fifteen. I stop by my house and get her a lunchbox made with snacks and I put some toys in a bag and head back to work.

By the time I get there, its three o' five. The secretary is super happy to see Anna.

"Katniss." She says. "Word on the street is that you're becoming her mother and you and Peeta are getting married. Is it true?"

I smile. "Yes."

"Well, congratulations."

"She already is my Mommy." Anna says.

She smiles.

"Alright honey, let's go." I take her hand and let her walk in front of me. She's skipping down the halls singing, and all the people in the halls smile huge. A lot of them ask if she's mine, and I explain everything, and they're all super happy. "Anna, we're turning here." I say. She turns to the stairs, and I watch as she climbs her way up. She's only five, so she moves slowly on the stairs. I watch her carefully to make sure she doesn't fall, and then we get to the top and she starts running down the halls again, singing twinkle twinkle little star.

"Anna!" I say, and she turns around and walks over to me. Yasmin isn't here yet, and it's three ten.

If she doesn't show up I'll be pissed.

I unlock the door and let her in. I let her sit in a chair, and she moves to the floor and starts playing with her toys. Yasmin walks in at three thirty.

"Oh my gosh, she's adorable!"

I smile. "Thank you."

"Mama," Anna says. "I'm hungry."

"Do you want goldfish or gummies?"

"Gummies!" she giggles. I get her gummies out and put them in a bowl, and I hand them to her and give her the juice, too.

And then I start to reteach everything to Yasmin. We get to grammar, which is a lesson after the Odyssey. I have her give me examples and I help her when she gets them wrong.

"Mommy." Anna says.

"Just a second honey." I say.

"No Mommy, I have to potty." I look at Yasmin.

"Can I trust to leave you in here alone for five minutes so I can take her to the bathroom?"

"I think I'll come, actually. I have to go too."

"Alright, let's go then."

"I have to go really badly." Anna says. I pick her up and lock my door and take her to the bathroom quickly. She's too small, so I have to help her at the toilet by holding her up. She wipes, and then I help her wash her hands. Yasmin washes her hands, and then we go back.

….a….

I don't stop at home after work; I just go right to Peeta's. I'm sure I have clothes here anyways.

I walk right in, and he's home.

"Daddy!" Anna runs to him and he picks her up and kisses her forehead.

"How was school?" he asks her.

"It was good!" she smiles, and then she starts playing with her toys. I shut the front door and sigh. Peeta walks right over to me and pulls me into his arms.

We have an hour until she has to be to bed. Peeta makes dinner while I bathe her, and then I help her dress and pick her clothes for tomorrow. We eat, and then put her to bed, and then Peeta and I go to his room, and he sits down and I sit right next to him, leaning my head on his shoulder.

We don't even turn on the TV, we just sit there listening to the sound of each other's breathing. It's so peaceful.

I love him so much. He would never do anything to hurt me.

I trust him with all my heart. I love him, god, I really do.

"Peeta." I whisper. He starts sliding his hand up and down my arm.

"Hmm, baby?"

"I think I'm ready." I whisper.

"For?" he asks softly.

"For…for…not stopping." I shift so I can look into his eyes.

I see the realization in his eyes. "Baby, I don't want to do something if you aren't absolutely positive you want it."

"I'm ready." I whisper. "I love you. I trust you. I know you love me. You won't do anything…that I won't like."

"I would never." He says.

"Peeta, I'm sure I'm ready."

He studies my eyes for the longest time, and then he leans down and kisses me.


	11. Chapter 11

The whole day, I've been distracted. I've caught myself smiling like an idiot more than once about last night. I did it when I was on my computer; I did it on my phone, and even when I was teaching the kids I was doing it.

It was amazing. I thought I'd be nervous or scared, but I wasn't. It was slow and passionate. The love was radiating through everything. It was so strong; it was like it was spreading around the world or something. Gosh, I still feel it today.

He makes me feel loved. He makes me feel appreciated, and wanted.

He is basically a wall away from me, but it's too far, and I miss him.

Johanna would say I'm losing my mind, but Annie would think it's adorable.

I don't care what people think of me, or how much of an idiot I look like. I am so happy today. Nothing and I mean _nothing_ could ruin my mood.

Right when the lunch bell rings, I'm up, waiting for the kids to get the hell out so I can slip into Peeta's room.

I want to get married.

I want to move away together, with Anna, and get a house of our own.

I walk right into his waiting arms.

"I want to get married and move away together." I whisper.

"Where do you want to go?" he asks.

"I don't know. Somewhere. We won't vanish, everyone will know where we are, but I want to start our lives together."

He nods.

….a….

I end up sleeping over at his house again, but this time I don't get there till after Anna is asleep.

"Are you mad at me?" I ask. He laughs.

"Honey, why would I be mad at you?"

I shrug. "I'm paranoid."

"It's okay. I'm not mad at you."

We sit in silence again, and this time, he's the one that breaks it.

"When do you want to get married?"

I'm quiet for a little while. "July. That way we have enough time to plan."

"I hope you know we're going on a honeymoon." He says. "And I'm not telling you where. It's going to be a surprise."

"Fine." I say. "Then you get to be surprised for the wedding. All you can do is pick your tux."

"Fair enough." He says.

"But I need some examples of what you want."

"Nature." He says.

"Okay." I smile.

….a….

I stay at home the next night, and my bed is so big without him.

I end up getting up at three in the morning and go jogging, and then I take a cold shower and start a little bit of wedding planning.

I think we'll get married July fifteenth.

I know exactly what I want the wedding to look like.

I go on another jog after a while, and end up at the beach, it's only five. I don't have to be at work until six thirty, so I leave the house by six, which means I have to get home by five forty five.

Annie and Johanna will be my bridesmaids, and Prim will be my maid of honor. Anna will be the flower girl and Caitlin.

A guy sits down next to me, one of the early morning joggers.

It takes me a second to realize it's actually Finn.

"We haven't seen you in four days." He says bluntly.

"Been busy." I mutter. "I work till six tutoring."

"And then you've been going to Peeta's."

"We made love, Finn."

His jaw drops. "Wait, are you serious?"

"Dead."

"And you were ready?" he asks. I nod.

"We're getting married in July."

"Really?" he asks. I nod.

"Jo and An are going to be my bridesmaids. Prim is going to be the maid of honor, Caitlin will be the ring bearer and Anna will be the flower girl."

He nods.

"I don't know what you'll be yet. I bet Peeta'll make you the groomsmen or something."

"It'll be uneven. Make your cousin, Lauren, make her a bridesmaid."

I nod. "Okay."

My watch alarm goes off and I stand up. "I've gotta go. I'm gonna be late for work."

….a….

Peeta has the flu, which sucks. I'm watching Anna until he gets better and he won't let me see him.

I miss him and I don't like work without him. We've been home for two weeks.

It's been a week that I've had Annalise, and he's just eating up his vacation time.

It's the weekend now, and I already told Jo and Ann everything from the beach the other day. Exams start on Monday, so I gave the kids their study guides, and I've been working to write up the damn exam.

The exam schedule is simple. Monday is first period, lunch, and then second period. Tuesday is third period, lunch, and then forth. Wednesday is fifth period, and then lunch, and then sixth. Thursday is seventh, and then lunch, and then an early day, and no school Friday or Monday.

I love exam week because I don't have to do anything except make sure the kids don't cheat.

I've had double the classes because Peeta begged me to babysit his class and do all the review I'm doing in my class with his because our exams are the same. The school okayed it, so for the past week I've had two classes in one, which means no planning periods because I had to take Peeta's classes.

Anna is playing in the yard and I'm watching her while typing up the exam. I finish it at midnight and go over it three times before emailing it to Peeta for him to go over it. The school and county don't care if we do the same exam. Peeta's been helping me through text today.

He goes over it for a while, and at one thirty in the morning, I get a text telling me it's good, that he's feeling much, much better and he's sleeping over tomorrow.

I can't wait.


	12. Chapter 12

Peeta and I almost "did it" for the second time last night, but Anna came knocking on the door. We were still dressed.

There was no way he could get the door without her asking what the thing sticking out of his pants was, so he pretended to be asleep and I went and took care of it.

She's so innocent. She didn't even expect a thing.

It's exam day, and we're in our second period exam, and I'm monitoring.

The only time I'm actually strict is during exams. Every time someone looks to the side or anywhere near another student, I clear my throat and shoot them the "you better fucking not" look, and they look back down.

I stop them for breaks and let them go back to it.

….s….

It's Wednesday during sixth period exam. It's my planning period, so I get to sit here and do nothing. I have two hours of freedom.

Peeta sticks his head in my room, and he's silent, waving my forward.

"What's wrong?" I whisper. He props his door

"Anna is having some type of problem at school and they just called me to have someone come get her. She's not sick, but she's crying."

"So?" I whisper.

"I can't pick her up and _you_ have two free hours.

"And what am I supposed to do with her?"

"You'll have to find some way to let her sit in the class with you." He says.

"I'll go talk to the principle. We'll figure it out, okay?" He nods.

"Just text me what happens." He says. I nod, and I grab my purse, keys, phone, and wallet, and I rush downstairs.

"Mrs. Joy!" Principle Daniels says.

"I have a very important question." I say.

"Okay." She says.

"Peeta and I's daughter needs to be picked up. I'm in planning-"

"So go pick her up!" she smiles.

"The problem is she has nowhere to go. Nobody can watch her."

Her smile falls and she sighs. "Well, as a mother of a six year old, I will allow you to bring her into your room with you during exams, but she has to be completely silent."

"She will. Gosh, thank you so much."

I rush out of the office and text Peeta what she told me.

I'm at the school in ten minutes and she's sitting in the nurses office, crying her eyes out. The principle, assistant principle, and the nurse are trying to get her to calm down enough to speak; and just as I walk into the office, she pukes all over the floor and then starts crying harder.

She sees me though, and she raises her arms. I pick her up, and I let her crying into my shoulder.

"Are you here to pick her up?" the Principle asks. I nod. "I didn't realize you were her mother."

"I'm her father's fiancé and I'm her emergency contact."

They sign her out and I sign, and then I go out to the car. She's hysterical. I sit her down in her car seat and sit down next to her.

"Shh." I whisper, running my fingers through her hair. "It's okay honey." I rock her back and forth until she stops crying and falls asleep.

I drop by m house because I still have lunch after the exam, which ends in thirty minutes. I give her a bath and change her clothes into her little pajama's and I give her some juice and a snack, and I bring her blanket.

"Listen sweetie." I say as I'm walking back into work. She has her little light up princess shoes on with her little belle nightgown. Her hair is wet and is running down her back. Her head is on my shoulder, her ace is still tearstained, and she looks tired, with her thumb in her mouth and her baby blanket in her hand. "You're coming into my class but the students are doing something very, very important, so you can't talk at all. I'll give you a piece of paper. You know how to write sweetie. You'll have to write something down when you want to say something."

"Okay." She whispers.

I nearly slam right into the principle. "How is she?"

"She threw up from crying so hard at school. I don't know what was wrong. She isn't talking much." She nods.

"There's seven minutes left in the lunch period." She says.

I nod and rush upstairs. I go right into Peeta's room. She's asleep now.

"What's wrong with her?" he asks.

"She won't talk. She puked when I walked in from crying. I took her home and gave her a bath." He nods. The bell rings. She doesn't even budge.

"I guess you can take her because you have two soft chairs and I only have one." He says. I nod, and I go into my room. I get the exams ready. The students come in and are talking, but when they see Anna, they get quiet. When everyone comes in, the whole room is silent, even when the tardy bell rings. This time, she does wake up. She's starts crying again.

"Shh," I whisper, running my fingers through her hair. "You have to be quiet, remember honey?" I whisper. "It's okay." She shoves her thumb in her mouth. "Do you want Daddy?" I ask. She shakes her head. I go to put her down, but she tightens are hands around me and refuses to let go. "Guys, this is Peeta and I's daughter, Annalise. She'll be here. She won't bother you guys."

"What's wrong with her?" Katie asks.

"She's sick." I say, which is true.

They nod. I pass out all their exams and tell them the instructions, and then tell them to start.

….a….

A few weeks later, spring break comes, and Haymitch shows up at my door.

"What are you doing here?" I demand.

"Checking up." He says. "Done any wedding planning?"

I tell him all of them, and how we're moving somewhere after this, but we don't know where yet.

"Well you need to start getting wedding stuff. You won't be able to have the wedding in July if you aren't ready."

"Well I'm going to a party tonight so I'll do it tomorrow."

Mom and Prim are visiting again and tonight Mom is babysitting Anna and Caitlin so all of us can go to a party. It's apparently going to be like a college party, but much, much worse.

I don't want to go, and I have a feeling I'll get drunk.

Me and the girls are supposed to be meeting the guys. Gale and Reed's girlfriend will be there, too.

Haymitch nods and heads out, and ten minutes later Jo and Ann show up. Peeta stops by the drop off Anna, and then he's gone. I don't even get to see him; he just lets her run inside.

Peeta begged me so hard to go and be his date. He said he won't leave my side once if it'll make me feel better.

"We have to look sexy as fuck tonight, so Johanna bought our outfits." Prim explains, and Annie and I groan. We both don't want to go.

"Peeta and Finnick are going to have an orgasm just by looking at you when I get done." Johanna says.

"I helped her pic your outfits." Prim says.

That earns another groan.

Jo does herself first. She's wearing a yellow skintight dress that makes her boobs look ready to explode. She wears a thong too, and white six-inch heels.

I've been best friends with Johanna and Annie for almost ten years. I know how to look hot when they want me to, or when I want to, or when I have to, and I know how to walk in heels.

Mom has the girls in the pool so they don't see this. Jo does her makeup and she looks good.

I'm perfectly happy in my tank top and sweats right now, my with hair down and no makeup. Annie looks pleased in her jeans and t-shirt.

"Last time I went to one of this parties, I was in my senior year of college." I say.

"Me too!" all of us say at once, but me obviously.

Next is Prim. She wears a skintight black leather dress that just barely covers her ass. Jo shouts at us to take showers and shave, and we do.

When we get out, Prim is done and her eyes pop.

"I can't wait for you to be done Katniss." Prim says. "Your eyes would be so much fun to do makeup with because they're gray."

Annie's next. She's nervous. She gets a long sleeve black skintight dress that again, barely covers her ass. So far, all three girls have the same shoes. Jo does her makeup and she looks really good.

Then it's me.

"No. I am _not_ wearing that."

"I didn't ask." Jo snaps. "Now put this on." She shaves a red lacy thong at me, "And then strip nude."

I force myself to do as I'm told. They don't get fazed that I have a hickey. All Johanna does is snorts.

The fucking dress she chose is red and completely skintight. It covers my ass by an inch, like the rest of the girls. I'm given jet black high heels. They're six inches, and I know I still won't be taller than Peeta. Johanna starts my makeup, and the girls are stone-faced in shock when she's done. My hair is left down, but she gives it volume. I look in the mirror, and I'm surprised.

I look…sexy.

My dress doesn't have any straps like Johanna's and Prim's.

"Why does she get the straps?" I ask, and Johanna smacks me in the back of the head.

"Your uncle was here because I got him to do me a favor." Johanna informs us. "And you're driving it."

"What?" I ask.

She hands me a set of car keys. I grab my clutch which has my phone, wallet, and my keys in it, and I head out, shouting goodbye to Mom and the girls.

The car in the driveway is not mine.

No. this is a blood red Lamborghini.

I walk toward it.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

Johanna smirks. "Vegas."

That makes sense. It is only seven I the morning.

We should get there at six tonight.

"Now, one night stands are okay." Johanna says.

"No they're not." Annie and I say.

"For Prim and I they are!" she snaps, and I speed off. We hit the highway and I go way over the speed limit, and I don't get caught, and we end up getting there at five instead of almost seven.

The guys are here already. I park the car and we get out.

People stare. We're on the fucking guest list, and I can hear the screaming from here. I lock arms with Annie, and Jo and Prim lock arms, and we walk in, strutting our shit.

This is going to be one crazy night.


	13. Chapter 13

We walk in, and it's so crowded, that I tighten my grip on Annie and push my way through, out to the grass. There are a lot of people out here, too. I look at Annie, trying to find Peeta and Finn. Someone bumps into me, who clearly is drunk.

Finally, after nearly an hour of wondering, I see the back of Peeta and Finn's heads. Johanna and Prim come up behind us.

"Boysssss!" Johanna shouts. And all of them, Gale, Reed, Finn, and Peeta spin around.

All of their jaws drop.

Peeta is the only one who doesn't react; he just stares and blinks a couple of times.

Then he turns to Finnick and says something, and they both go for Annie and I. Peeta grabs me at the same time that Finn grabs Annie, and they both dip us, and we start making out, right there in front of everyone. Nobody cares, because everyone is either drunk, of they're doing what we're doing. Peeta pulls away. "Let's go. I'm getting you drunk tonight." He sees the hesitation in my eyes. "I'm not leaving your side. Do you think I want guys around you? No. You're mine. I've claimed my territory." He grabs my hand and pulls me through the crowd, glaring at anyone that looks at me.

We don't even start with something small, we just start right away with Naga Chilli Vodka, which is on fire, literally.

We down four together, and then just keep grabbing random shots.

I can already feel my head getting foggy.

I'm going to have such a bad hangover tomorrow.

PEETA'S POV

She's so tiny. I got her tipsy within a minute of seeing how sexy she looks tonight.

I had to drag her away from that table, and I don't know if I'm going to keep drinking. The alcohol isn't really affecting me, but Katniss downed three beers after six of those shots, and she's looking at the lights and giggling.

"Peeeeetaaa!" she giggles. "Let's go have sex."

The gang is still right where we left them. I pull her over there, and a song she likes comes on. "I love this song guys!" she starts giggling.

"What'd you do to my sister?" Reed asks.

"Got her drunk." I shrug.

Johanna manages to convince me to drink more.

I don't remember what happened after that.

KATNISS'S POV

The first thing I register when I wake up is the killing migraine, my makeup is off, and I'm naked, on the tile floor of a hotel room, and I don't know where anyone is to be found.

But then I see a hand sticking out from under the other side of the couch, and I snatch the sheets off of it and I cover myself.

If that hand is anyone but Peeta's I'll cry so hard.

I slowly walk over and brace myself.

It's Peeta, and he's naked, too.

God, what happened last night? I shake him awake, and he jumps, and then groans.

That's when he realizes he's nude, and he sits up so fast, but I see relief cross his whole face when he sees it's me.

"Are you naked?" he mutters, and his voice is deep. I nod. "You're so fucking sexy." He mumbles, and he stands up and walks into the bathroom and pukes.

I follow soon after.

"Do you remember anything?" I ask quietly. He shakes his head.

"All I know is that you were drunk within a minute. Johanna got me drunk right after. I don't remember anything else." Someone bangs on the door.

"Are you guys decent?" Johanna shouts.

"Just a second!" I say. I throw Peeta his boxers, find my underwear and pull them on, and thenpull Peeta's shirt over me. I go and open the door, and the gang comes in. Reed looks pissed, but other than that, nobody looks hung over.

"You guys are wild partiers." Johanna smirks.

"You didn't get drunk?" I ask, taking the bottle of Advil from Annie.

"No. We stayed sober when Peeta got drunk because you guys were groping in the middle of the crowd." Johanna says.

"It got so bad that Kitty, you almost had his dick out of his damn jeans." Finn says.

"You guys were the center of the party though." Annie says. "You kept requesting songs Katniss, and you even started karaoke. Even drunk you still sounded good." Annie laughs.

"How'd we get here?" I ask. The room is crashed. The coffee table is broken, the bed is fucking mad, the curtain in the bathroom is down.

"I brought you here." Annie says.

"Brainless, unless you guys want a baby, I would seriously suggest the morning after pill. We're right next door and I'm taking a guess and I'm gonna say ten times."

I cover my mouth with my hand.

"God, don't tell Mom." I say.

"Too late," Reed says. "Sorry, it slipped."

"God, she's going to kill me."

"And uh, Peeta, your brothers showed up. They're somewhere around here. I think Rye got a girl, and Graham brought his girlfriend."

"Okay…" he says. "Are one of them sober?"

"Uh, Graham was." He sighs.

"He's gonna tell my parents. They're gonna kill me."

…..a…..

Annie bought me a pair of clothes, sweats, a t-shirt, sunglasses (thank god), a sports bra, and new, clean underwear.

I take a shower in the broken shower curtain shower, I throw up the pills and end up having to take more, and then I try my best to fix everything Peeta and I destroyed.

…..a…..

The hangover is gone and we get home and everything is back to normal. Peeta sleeps over that night, and the next day, there's a knock on my door.

I open it, and my heart stops. Fuck.

Slowly, I step aside to let them in. Mr. and Mrs. Mellark.

"Is your mother here?" Mrs. Mellark asks. She has the same anger tell as Mama. Calmness.

"Yes." I mumble.

"And Peeta?" Mr. Mellark asks.

"Yes."

"How about you go get them for Me." she says. "We're going to have a little _family meeting_."

I cringe, and then I go and wake Mom. She knows exactly what's going on. Gosh, I knew this was going to happen.

I go to my room and shut the door, and then I rush to Peeta's bedside and shake him awake.

"We're in so much trouble." I whisper.

"Why?" he asks, rubbing his eyes and sitting up.

"Your parents are here. They want a family meeting."

"Dammit." He mutters. "Rye and Graham are going to show up, and your Uncle, and Prim and Jo, Finn, Annie, and Reed. When she says family she means everyone related to us in the state."

He gets up and pulls on his jeans. I'm in sweats and a t-shirt. He leaves his jeans on, and he just walks out into the living room. I follow him, and then Rye and Graham show up, and Jo, Annie, Finn, Prim and Uncle Haymitch.

"I want all of you to sit down." Haymitch says.

I have a big couch. We don't argue, we just sit. Anna is in the study and Caitlin is sent in with her.

"Now, everyone that's teachers, stand up."

Peeta, I, Jo, and Ann stand up.

"I want you guys to sit together." Mrs. Mellark says. She's fucking pissed, and Mom is too. Abbie senses the tension and sits down in front of me, staring at them. If one of them tries to touch me with force, she'll attack.

"If you got drunk at your little _get together_ stand up."

Slowly, Peeta and I rise, and Rye, and even Graham. He must have gotten drunk after or something.

Mom and Mrs. Mellark purse their lips.

"If you are a parent, and it doesn't have to be legally or biologically, stand up."

Me, Peeta, Annie, and Finn stand.

"Can I just say that this makes me so angry that my daughter basically my son is standing up for _everything_." Mom says.

"Sit." Mr. Mellark orders.

"Let's just start right off with the lies." Mom says, and she starts to pace.

She's really fucking mad, and it's not Prim, it's me. I can tell, because she keeps looking at me and looking so mad.

"First of all, you guys had me watch _your children_ to go to a formal get together. Is that true?"

"Well technically-" I begin.

"Just because you were wearing a dress, doesn't mean it's formal. Formal as in elegant, not alcohol and having sex ten or more times!" I shoot Reed the evilest glare I can muster. "Is it true?" Mom hisses, and she's looking right at me. I sigh.

"No."

"Right." She nods.

"Rye, Graham, where did you say you were going? Oh, right, you were going to California because Peeta said Katniss thought she was pregnant." Mrs. Mellark turns to me. "Did you have a pregnancy scarce?"

I shake my head.

"Now." Haymitch says. "You took my brand new Lamborghini because of a formal party?" he looks at Johanna.

"I didn't say formal." Johanna says.

"Yes you did."

"Fine, it wasn't true." She grumbles.

"Now, you realize if this gets told to _anyone_ at the people at your schools, you'll get yourselves fired?"

They start drilling us in about every little thing and the example we're setting for our children and all the bullshit, and then they round on me.

"If you get pregnant Katniss I swear to god-" Mom says, but I'm already pissed, and everyone knows I have a short temper.

"What?" I demand.

"I don't want you to have a baby." She says. "Not until your married, and I don't want a _mistake_ for a grandchild."

"Yes. We don't want a mistake baby." Mrs. Mellark agrees. "We'll shun you guys if you have a baby without our consent."

"Your consent?" I mutter, and my hands are in fists.

"Yes! You may be twenty six, but I'm still your Mother!"

I stand up.

"Get out." I hiss. "Everyone, I want everyone out of my house right now!" I'm past the calm part of the anger, so I'm yelling.

"Does that mean me?" Peeta asks.

"I didn't say except you." I hiss.

"Alright." He says. "Anna, we're leaving honey, let's go." She's crying when we walks out.

"I didn't even fucking do anything to you!" Johanna shouts at me before slamming the door.

Mom and Prim grab their luggage, and they're gone, and I'm left alone with Abbie.

Part of the reason I sent everyone that was at the part out is because I knew they didn't want to be there either.

I pace the living room for a good ten minutes, and then I start crying. I start a hot bath and just sit in it with my knees against my chest and just cry. The door is locked and I've got the key.

I didn't even want to go to that damn party, and I just come to find out that they don't even want us to have a baby unless it's on purpose.

I sit in there until the water gets cold, and Abbie sits outside the door whining. I don't even dry off, I climb into bed and just cry myself to sleep with Abbie lying next to me.

….a….

I don't speak to any of them for the rest of spring break, which is the whole thing and one day because that party was on Saturday, we had the fight Sunday, so it's an entire week and a day that I don't speak to them. Nobody tries to contact me, either. They know once I've calmed down, I'll come back. I didn't go to work Monday.

Now it's Tuesday morning and I'm being ridiculous. It's not anyone's fault that I went to that party. I could have chosen not to go. I have no right to be mad at any of them.

Especially not Peeta.

So I go into work, and I find myself almost crying. I'm late, and there's a sub in there. I'm a whole period late, so it's second period. Peeta has a class, and I have tears sliding down my cheeks.

I walk right in, and the doors slams behind me, causing everyone to look.

Clearly they know we had a fight. He probably was pressured into telling them. He didn't tell them what it was about, but he did tell them that the last time we saw each other was last Sunday.

Peeta spins around with the marker in his hand. He sees me, and he sees I'm crying, and the whole room goes silent. Everyone is looking between us. They're not making a noise. He doesn't move. He's trying to figure out what to do, because it wasn't his fault, so he has nothing to apologize for.

"I'm sorry." I blurt, wiping my tears away, but they just keep coming. I start fidgeting. "Do you hate me? Do you want this back?" I take the ring off and hold it out. "I don't want to look at it Peeta, just take it!"

I hear a girl start crying, and other sniffles, but other than that, it's silent. He doesn't move. "Dammit Peeta!"

"Do you _want_ us to end?" he asks quietly, "Or do you just think that's what I want?"

I don't say anything.

"Answer the question." He says.

"I don't want us to end but…I'd do anything for you." I whisper. "And this is what you want-"

"Honey." He sighs, and he walks over to me and puts the ring back on. "I understand why you did what you did. It's okay." He says, and wipes my tears.


	14. Chapter 14

The months flew and before I know it, I'm sitting in New York City in Peeta's parent's living room, because they moved back. It's summer Peeta's home, but Anna's with me. We put in the adoption papers. We're just waiting for it to be approved, and then I'll be her legal.

Mom is with us and Haymitch, and Prim, Johanna, Caitlin, and Annie. We're going wedding dress shopping.

We got over the things they said at that family meeting. I don't forgive them, but I'm over it for now.

Us girls head out, and we go to the first bridal shop we see.

The first dress I see is absolutely perfect for Annalise.

It's white on the top, and the bottom is blue ruffles, but its light blue. It's a princess gown.

"The theme is blue." I say, walking over to the dress. They follow me.

"That's pretty Mommy." Anna says.

"Do you want it?" I ask. "For Mommy and Daddy's wedding?" she nods excitedly.

Someone that works here helps us with getting her the right size. She'll have to come back for fittings, but we can do that at home.

She add that to the pile, and then I hear Prim calling my name. I walk towards the sound of her voice.

"What's my color?"

"Darker than all the girls." I say.

"So navy?" she asks.

"Yes."

"So this?" she shows me a gorgeous dress that reaches the floor with a sweetheart neckline. It's plain, but it's hard to describe.

"Yes, if that's what you want."

"It's your wedding, not mine."

"Do you like it?" I ask. She says yes, and all the girls come over so Prim can try it on. It fits perfect and I know this is her dress.

We add that to the pile, and I her Annie gasp.

"I love this store, already two dresses down." Annie says, "Katniss!"

I walk over to her. She has a little girls dress for Caitlin. Her dress is just like Anna's, but Caitlin's has straps with ruffles. Caitlin loves it, so we find her size, and then I hear Johanna make a weird ass noise and then call my name. Lauren walks in now, since she's a bridesmaid. She's late and is apologizing a million times over. I brush her off and go over to Johanna. She has a black dress that is the same as Prim's. "We can make is lighter than Prim's but darker than the girls." Johanna says.

"That's cute." Lauren says breathlessly.

Annie agrees excitedly, and before I know it, they're getting three of their size off the rack.

Everyone looks at me expectantly.

I'm nervous to even look for a dress.

"Mommy, it's your turn." Anna says.

I wander around the store, and when someone finds a dress they like, they call me over. I turn down all of them, and after a while, we buy the dresses the girls are getting and leave.

We're driving back to Peeta's parents' and I see this dress in a window that makes me pull over.

"What?"

"What does it feel like when you find the dress?" I ask quietly.

"You just know." Annie shrugs. I shut the car off and unbuckle my seatbelt.

"Well I just know." I get out and everyone does too, and I grab Anna's hand.

"What dress Mommy?" Anna asks, looking up at me when we get in the store.

This doesn't even have any dresses for anyone _but_ the bride. It's all wedding dresses.

A woman comes out of the back.

"Hi. Is this the bridal party?" she asks. We all nod.

"Wait, let me guess the bride." She says. She studies all of us. "It's you." She says, and points at me, and we all start laughing as I nod.

"How'd you know that?" Anna asks.

"Well, I cheat actually." She smiles. "You're the only one with one ring on." We all laugh again. "Do you have an appointment?"

"No…" I trail off.

"Oh, well that's fine. When you find a dress you like, just come and find me."

"I um…I want to see that one." I point to the one in the window.

"Oh, we have that. Come here." She says. Anna runs after her when she starts to walk.

"It's my Mommy and Daddy getting married." She explains. "I'm a surrogate baby, and my Daddy met Mommy through Mommy's brother, and now Mommy and Daddy are getting married. They like each other a lot." She giggles. Her whole face changes suddenly. "My Mommy is better than your Mommy. She's prettier than you are, too!"

"Anna!" I say. "I am so sorry, she…she doesn't normally act like this." I look at Anna. "What do you have to say to her?" I ask.

"I'm sorry." Anna mumbles.

"It's okay sweetheart, I actually agree with you. Your Mommy is beautiful. She'll be a beautiful bride."

She gets my size dress off the rack and everyone sits around waiting while Prim and I go into the dressing room.

"Are you having your hair up or down for the wedding?" Prim asks as I strip into my underwear.

"Down probably."

"God, you're going to look amazing." Prim whispers. She helps me into the dress. It's a princess style sweetheart neckline dress. The top part is lace ofer the white of the dress and there's a bit of lace at the bottom. It's such a pretty dress.

"God, your boobs are huge." She says as she gets the zipper up.

"Yeah, and that's not a good thing." I say, and we both laugh, and I hear Johanna snicker outside of the waiting room. Prim doesn't ask permission as she takes my hair out of the braid.

"Oh my god Katniss, you look amazing! Look!" she turns me to look in the mirror, and the breath is knocked out of me, and I feel myself getting emotional. "Oh, she's crying guys! This has to be it." Prim opens the door and steps out.

"Oh Katniss." Mama whispers. Annie starts crying, and Johanna's got a big smile on her face. Anna looks excited.

"You look so pretty, Mommy!"

"I think this is it, guys."

I look at other dresses after taking of the one I just had on, but that one is the dress.

…..a…..

We get home a week after that, which means we were gone two weeks. We had a lot of wedding stuff to do up there, and I think I found the perfect place for the venue. I might start including Peeta, because I want it to be perfect and it can't be perfect unless he agrees. We get home at ten in the morning. I told Peeta we'd have to wait days until we got back. I hid the dresses at Johanna's house, and then I went to the flower shop with Anna and we thought about flowers, and now we're heading to see Peeta. I haven't even been home.

"Anna, remember what I told you about how you can't tell Daddy _anything_, not even if he tries to give you something for it. That goes the same for Uncle Rye and Uncle Graham or anyone else."

"Okay Mommy, I won't tell no one, I promise."

"Anyone sweetie, no one is improper.

He isn't home, so I call Reed and he says he's with him at the beach, but he doesn't let Peeta know. Anna and I go to my house and we put on our swimsuits, and we head to the beach. Reed says they're by the big cluster of walks and are walking in the same direction we are. Anna and I run, and before I know it, I can see him and Reed and Finn. Anna doesn't scream. We both jump on him and knock him down, and I move so he can roll over.

"What…you guys aren't supposed to be back for three more days!" he stands up and hug both of us at the same time.

"Well I lied." I smile.

"Well, did you find the dress?" he asks, linking fingers with me and watching Anna as she follows the water.

"Yes." I smile. "We found all of them, actually, but that's all I'm telling you."

"I miss my girls. Bye." Finn turns around and runs off. Reed hesitates.

"I'll see you guys later." Reed jogs off, too, leaving us alone, but Finn comes back on the phone to take Anna for a sleepover, and after Peeta hesitates, he agrees.

"I guess I have the house to myself tonight." Peeta says.

"No you don't."

He smiles and puts his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer so he can kiss me. "I missed my girls." He says, and he kisses me again.

"I missed you too." I say.

"How was Anna."

"She was fine, except for telling the lady that was getting the dress that I'm prettier than she is."

"She told that lady that you are prettier?" I nod, and he tries to be serious, but he fails and starts laughing.

"Peeta!" I smack his arm. "It's not funny!"

But I start laughing, too.

"I told her to always tell the truth." He says.

He grabs my waist suddenly, and throws me over his shoulder. I start yelling at him, and I hear some giggling. He's doing it to piss me off, because he won't put me in the water.

So what does he do? He sets me down and takes off.

"You're gonna fucking pay for that Mellark!"

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Mom managed to convince me to change my name back to Everdeen until I get married. I don't mind it much.

"Bring it, Everdeen!" he shouts back. I stop running and pick up a handful of sand and mix it with dry sand, and then I start running and peg it at the back of his head. He jumps in shock, and then falls flat on his face. I start laughing so hard that I have to walk, and then I sit down in front of him, and I roll him over. He wipes the sand off. "You better fucking run." He says.

"You guys are adorable!" somebody nearby squeals, and we look up and see four of our girl student holding hands with four of our boy students. I'm about to say hi to them, but Peeta grabs a handful of wet sand and dumps it on my head.

"Oh hell no!" I say, and I shove him down and completely cover his head. He shakes it off with his hair, now wet, getting curlier by the minute, just like how mine does. If I don't brush my hair when it's wet, it looks like I crunched it. I get up and go into the water and wet it to get out some of the sand, and then I wring my hair out on his head.

"You guys are like children." Hanna says.

"And you are so much more laid back outside of school." Jason says. I smile. That's because we don't have kids to babysit or teachers trying to get us to do our job. I don't say that, I just agree. Peeta disappears, and I get up to be ready and slides something down my back, and for some reason, I think it's a fish, and I scream, but when I turn around, its fucking seaweed, and he's laughing his ass off.

"Oh, I'm gonna fucking kill you!" I say, and I chase after him, waving goodbye to the kids as I go.

After about an hour, Caitlin, Anna, Annie, and Finn join us at the beach again. Only this time, Johanna has her camera and she's with them.

"We need wedding pictures." Annie explains.

"So what's the little garden shovel for?"

"This is so Katniss can dig a hole to bury you in."

"Oh, no way." Peeta says.

I start digging, and I let the sand get all over me. Johanna has a really good camera and she used to want to be a photographer.

After a long three hours, the hole is deep enough to fit Peeta. He climbs in and I shove all the sand in.

"Okay, lay on your stomach behind him and have the shovel in your hands." Johanna says. I do as I'm told.

"This is perfect." She looks so excited. "Now, get lost in each other's eyes," I move, holding onto the shovel. I search his eyes, and I'm not even faking it. "Okay now let's get you out of there and cleaned off.

I can tell he's trying to move his arms, but he can't.

That's because it's wet sand.

I start to dig, and Johanna takes pictures while I dig him up. Once I free his arms, I pull him up. He goes to the water, and I run after him. We both clean off and Johanna goes to us. Both of our hair is curly right now. She directs us to do what she wants. We kiss her for her, and we hug for her, and we stare into each other's eyes with our noses close.

Apparently Rye and Graham are in town because they show up. But that would explain why I haven't seen them.

"Alright, I want a picture where Peeta's kissing on cheek and Rye is kissing the other, and then the same thing, but with Graham. Katniss, look surprised."

Peeta kisses one cheek and Rye kisses the other. Both boys got their hair wet first, so now both of their hair is curly. I make a surprised face where my mouth is open in an oval and my eyes are lit up. I do the same for Graham and then Johanna decides we're done.

They leave with Anna. I turn to Peeta.

"I'm going to go home." I say.

"Why?"

"I need to shower, I don't have clothes-"

"You have clothes at my house." He says. I give in and go to Peeta's.

I get there first, and when Peeta gets here, I kiss him.

"Take a shower with me?" I ask. He jumps on the chance.

...8...

A week later, I get a phone call from my Mom.

"Yeah Mama?" I ask.

"I'm going to email you a link. I think I found a place for you to have the ceremony and the reception."

I'm at home this time. I call Annie and Johanna to get their asses over here, and they're here in the course of fifteen minutes.

"What's the big deal?" Johanna demands.

"Mom sent me a reception link and it has the ceremony there as well." I say.

Their eyes light up and they sit down next to me. I click on the link and the three of us read it, and then I go to the ceremony pictures.

There are trees hanging over the ceremony. We can easily weave them with flowers.

"I want it like this." I say.

"It's beautiful." Annie whispers.

We go to the reception. It has trees, lined with Christmas lights. The trees are on the edges of the field.

"Oh my god." I say, and I find the number and call them, and find out that we can go there and see them and that they have an opening on July sixteenth. "I think I'm gonna show Peeta. I'm leaving to go to Colorado tomorrow." And I get dressed and walk out the door. On the way there, I dial Haymitch.

"Yes?" he asks.

"I'm going to Colorado tomorrow. I think I found the place."

"Are you showing the boy?"

"_The boy_ has a name, and yes, I am."

"About time." He mutters. "Alright, I'll get you guys tickets-"

"You are not getting-"

"I didn't ask, I said." He grumbles, and he hangs up.

I call Mama.

"Did you show Prim?" I ask as I pull into the driveway with one hand. I shut the car off and get out.

"Yes honey, I showed her. She loves it." I walk right in without knocking. Anna's on the floor playing games and Peeta's in the kitchen, but when he hears my voice, he comes into the living room with food for Anna.

"Well I'm going to show Peeta and we're flying out there tomorrow." I say. His eyebrows rise.

"Alright, we'll meet there." Mom says. "I'll call Johanna and Annie. Is Finnick allowed to come?"

"Sure, and I guess try Reed, too. He'll be pretty pissed if he can't come."

"And Lauren." She says, and hangs up.

"Sorry I didn't call." I say.

"You don't have to apologize." Peeta says.

"I've decided." I say, accepting his kiss and giving Anna a hug and a kiss on the head. "That I can't make the wedding _perfect_ unless you love it too. So I think I found the place for the reception and the ceremony. So we're going to Colorado tomorrow."

He raises his eyebrows. "Alright." he says.

"So pack your bags."

I kiss him. "I have stuff to do. I'll call you tomorrow."

I walk out the door and drop by the store and pick up some plane shit that I'll use. I drop in at Reed's.

"Did Mom call you?" I ask.

"Yes, I'll pack tonight."

"I'm your cousin." Gale grumbles. "I want to come."

"Well call our dear uncle and tell him that." I say, and he sighs.

"Fine." He says.

"Where's Karen?" Reed's girlfriend.

"I broke up with her and kicked her out." Reed shrugs.

"Why?" I ask.

"Because she fucking has sex with some guy in _my_ house while I was working. The only reason she was caught was because Gale showed up." He says.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

He shrugs.

I walk out and I go to Finn and Annie's. They're packing, so I stop by Johanna's, and then I go home and I start packing.

I realize then that I have three weeks till the wedding.

And I'm not even half done.


	15. Chapter 15

The venue was perfect and we chose it. We have one fucking week and we leave two days before so really, we only have six days. The wedding's on Friday, July 16th, and we leave Wednesday, July 14th.

It's fucking Thursday.

I haven't seen Peeta in a few days because I'm running all. I've left the state three times this week and it's only fucking Thursday. Mom, Prim, Johanna, Annie, and Haymitch are with me for the whole thing. I'm so fucking stressed.

It's midnight by the time we get home from New York today, and I drop everyone off at their places, and then I go to Peeta's.

I have to see him.

It's one thirty when I get there because we had to drive home from the airport. The doors locked, so I unlock it with my key and slip in and relock it. I reactive the alarm, and then I go right down the hall to Peeta, stripping into my bra and underwear. He's asleep, but I climb right into bed with him. He wakes up. He doesn't ask any questions, he just pulls me into his arms and sighs.

"I think you need to take a break." He whispers.

"I can't." I say softly. "It's worth it, though." I whisper. "It's going to be perfect."

"I feel terrible." He mumbles. "That I can't help you."

"Oh, stop that Peeta. I told you that you can't help."

He sighs. "I'm setting up the ceremony and the reception. You aren't." he says.

"Fine." I whisper.

On Thursday, we have the bachelor/bachelorette party.

My bridal party, and my Mother is coming to mine, and Haymitch, of course.

By my entire family, I mean everyone, _but_ my father. I didn't say any plus ones, because I know one of this will have the mind to bring him.

I don't want him there.

"Peeta, you're going to Peeta me whole entire family." I whisper. "But my father. I haven't seen most of them since I was nine."

"It'll be fine." He whispers, and he grabs my wrists and pins them above my head. He starts kissing me. "Now stop talking." He whispers, kissing the hollow of my throat. "I have something to do."

…..a…..

I completely forgot about the honeymoon. Now I'm in this damn hotel in Colorado.

"I already packed you for your honeymoon." Johanna says casually.

"What? No, hell no, I need to fix that bag then. Where is it?"

I'm not allowed to see Peeta, which sucks, because I already miss him.

The biggest, evil smirk crosses her lips. "Well, I don't know. I gave it to Peeta last night while you were giving Anna a bath."

"I'm gonna kill you." I hiss. She just snickers.

I let Peeta choose the first dance song. He said it's not slow, but it'll make me smile.

That's all that matters. As long as we're happy, I'm fine with it.

So they start doing my hair and makeup for this party tonight, and I'm nervous. I'm staying glued to one of the girls, that's for damn sure. We all do each other's makeup, and then we put on our dresses. Mine's blue, along with the rest of the girls.

This is going to be interesting.

….a….

Johanna tried so hard to get me drunk, but I kept refusing.

Nobody got drunk, but it was fun.

And here I am, the night before I get married. The girls are up with me, and Mom's here, and my Aunt Hazelle, Gale's Mom, who is happily married to her husband still.

And I swear I'm going to make myself sick.

"Katniss honey, you just need to sit down." Annie says gently.

"What if he says no?" I ask.

"He won't." Jo says.

"But what if he does, or he…met some girl last night or…or…"

"Katniss," Prim says. "This is Peeta we're talking about. He loves you with all his heart. You are _legally_ Anna's Mom. You need to calm down, and you need to realize that the only way you _aren't_ getting married tomorrow, is if you say no."

"Oh god, what if I get so nervous I say no!"

And then I go into the bathroom, and I puke.

It's then that Mom gives me Nyquil to make me sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

The morning of my wedding is…it's okay.

Boulder, Colorado is beautiful. The schools are great, and I think I want to move here. Last time Peeta and I had sex, I was when I slept over his house, and that was two weeks ago or something like that.

Anna's walking around the room in her underwear. I'm getting my hair done, and Anna is complaining because she isn't getting hers done, too.

"Anna, you're going to have to wait honey." I say. "Now stop complaining. Complaining won't get you what you want."

"Sorry Mommy." She says.

I'm leaving all of my hair down, and they're just curling it. Peeta _loves_ when my hair is down, and he basically demanded that I leave it down.

The curls are going to be little ones, nothing major. They do Anna next, just because she's so excited.

Then they do Caitlin's, Prim's, then Annie's, then Jo's, and then Lauren's and Mom's. Everyone else can fend for themselves.

We have two hours till I'll be standing at the altar.

The boys apparently took Peeta's phone and the girls took mine so we absolutely do not have any form of communication.

I'm super nervous. They start in on the makeup, and the girls are all freaking out.

"Oh my god, you are going to look gorgeous." Mom says.

I refused any mirrors until I have the dress and the shoes on, which are just plain white.

My heart is pounding.

Soon enough, my makeup is done and we have thirty minutes to get to the altar and we're not even dressed yet.

We get all the other girls dressed, and then we soon realize that we're not even going to be able to fit me and the dress in the damn limo, so Haymitch drives another car with my dress and I go in sweats and a tank top.

"It's okay Mommy. Daddy really loves you." Anna says. She looks adorable in her dress. She said she feels like a princess, and I told her she looks like one, too.

So we get there, and we ind out they don't have a room for us to dress in.

And we have five minutes.

"Okay, we're going into the woods." Johanna says. "Haymitch, so make an announcement that they're going to have to wait."

"No." I say. "We don't have _time_ to go into the woods." I say.

"Look, we can just let her get dressed in front of the limo." Prim says.

"No!" Annie finally snaps. She gets out and goes across the street to some convenience store and comes back. "You're getting dressed in the staff bathroom. Lt's go. We have three minutes."

"I'm telling them we're going to be a little bit late." Haymitch says.

"I'll do it." Hazelle says. "I'm not a part of the wedding. You're walking her down the aisle. Stay with her and make sure she doesn't trip."

She runs off. There is a building that blocks us from everyone, but there's nowhere I can get dressed at in there.

We rush into the store and into the staff bathroom. All the girls work on shoving me into the dress.

And I am _shocked_ by how beautiful I look.

Mom starts crying, and then she walks out of the bathroom. We rush out of the store, back across the street, and people that see start cheering.

My heart is pounding.

Mom goes out to the aisle and Prim peeks through a window and gasps, refusing to let me look. The path curves, I know that much, so I won't be able to see Peeta right away, but Prim looks so happy.

Mom sticks her head in to tell us they're starting and the music starts. Rye, Reed, and Finn come out of some room, and they look at us. They're all smiling. Graham is Peeta's best Man, so he's with Peeta.

Lauren goes with Finn, and after thirty seconds, Johanna leaves with Reed, and then Annie goes with Rye. Then, I send out Annalise with the flowers and Caitlin with the rings, and she kisses my cheek first and then goes out. She walks slow, and from what I see, she does perfect. We've got someone recording the whole thing.

Then, Prim goes alone, and then the music changes. I look at Haymitch. "Calm down Sweetheart." He says. "He's going to say yes,"

"Just don't let me fall." I whisper.

"If you fall, it'll be because I trip." He whispers as he pulls me out the door.

The breath is shortened in me, when I walk out. Everyone is standing and the place is packed. The principle that Peeta and I have are here and so it the one I used to have, and a lot of teachers we work with, friend from high school of Peeta's and then a shitload of family. One side is my Mom and Dad's family combined, and the other side is Peeta's Mom and Dad's family combined, and there's a lot. The trees are lined with flowers that canopy over us.

And then I see Peeta at the altar with the girls on my side and the boys on his side. Everyone looks great. He let his hair be after he washed it, so it's got the curls, and he knows I love it when his hair is like that. I didn't realize I was walking faster until Haymitch tightens his grip on my arm and forces me to walk slower. I can't even look away from him. He's so beautiful. I love him, oh god I love him. I'm smiling, and he's smiling, and clearly, we're assessing each other.

Finally, I reach him, and right when his hand is in mine, I feel the heat shoot through my body, but this time, it's much, much stronger.

I love him so much.

It's then that I realize I'm crying, because he wipes my tears away. I hear sniffles in the crowd, and they're coming from both sides, and most of them are coming from our Mother's.

The music stops, and I see Anna is whispering, and it's so quiet that everyone can hear her.

"That's my Mommy and Daddy! Look how much they love each other!" she giggles, and Mrs. Mellark whispers something to her, and I see her make a zipping motion with her hand, and then she takes the key and puts it in her ear and hits it twice, like she's shoving the key in there.

Peeta and I chuckle.

Then the priest starts talking.

"Dear friends and family, we are gathered here today to witness and celebrate the union of Peeta Ryan Mellark and Katniss Joy Everdeen in marriage. In the months they have been together, their love and understanding of each other has grown and matured, and now they have decided to live their lives together as husband and wife." He pauses. "True marriage is more than joining the bonds of marriage of two persons; it is the union of two hearts. It lives on the love you give each other and never grows old, but thrives on the joy of each new day. Marriage is love. May you always be able to talk things over, to confide in each other, to laugh with each other, to enjoy life together, and to share moments of quiet and peace, when the day is done. May you be blessed with a lifetime of happiness and a home of warmth and understanding." He pauses again, and Peeta wipes away more tears, and I can see that he's tearing up, too. We decided not to say our own vows because one, it takes longer, and two, we both would rather say it to each other in private. So we just go basic. "Do you, Peeta Mellark, take Katniss Everdeen to be your lawfully wedded wife, promising to love and cherish, through joy and sorrow, sickness and health, and whatever challenges you may face, for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Peeta says.

"Do you, Katniss Everdeen, take Peeta Mellark to be your lawfully wedded wife, promising to love and cherish, through joy and sorrow, sickness and health, and whatever challenges you may face, for as long as you both shall live?" he asks.

"I do." I say. Peeta wipes more tears, and I wipe his, and our mothers are sobbing into their handkerchiefs.

We both memorized the thing we have to say for the exchanging of rings. Anna whispers something to Caitlin, and Caitlin comes up and hands us the rings. I have Peeta's, and he has mine. His is just plain silver. We got a set, only we didn't get to see each other's.

"Peeta, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love. As it encircles your finger, may it remind you always that you are surrounded by my enduring love." I say, and I slide it onto his forth finger on his left hand.

"Katniss, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love. As it encircles your finger, may it remind you always that you are surrounded by my enduring love." He says, as he slides it onto my finger. It's silver with diamonds going all the way around it.

"And now, by the power vested in me by the State of Colorado, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. Peeta, you may kiss your bride."

He pulls me lips to his, my hands on his cheeks and his at the small of my back.

The audience breaks into cheers, and Anna is so happy. I can hear her flipping out over the yelling of the crowd.

We pull away, and the priest says, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, for the first time, Mr. And Mrs. Katniss and Peeta Mellark!"

We're attacked, and Anna gets here first. Peeta picks her up and she pulls both of us into a hug, and she looks so cute and happy. It's so adorable.

Then Peeta puts her down and she goes back to her seat, and Peeta and I join hand, and we go running down the aisle, into that room.

The bridal party follows, and they rip me away from him, demand I change. Peeta gets sent to wait for me by the reception so all of us can walk out together.

The reception dress is long and it goes down to my ankles, but right under my breasts, there's a silver band. Even Johanna has tears in her eyes.

"Okay, we need to go the entrance." Prim says as they drag me over to there the guys are.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to announce the bridal party." Peeta plants a kiss on my cheek.

"I love you." I whisper.

"I love you too." I smile, and I kiss him.

Prim and Graham walk out together, then Annie and Rye, and then Johanna and Reed, and then Caitlin and Anna, and Lauren and Finn, and finally, Peeta and I, and everyone is at their seats, standing and clapping.

I told Peeta that I didn't want to do the dance with Haymitch because he wasn't really there when I was a kid. He said we didn't have to do that, and we aren't going to, we'll just dance together.

"I can't dance." I whisper.

"Then you can just take your shoes off and stand on my feet." He says.

"Peeta." I mumble.

"It's cute." He says.

So when they call us up for the first dance, I give in and take my shoes off and let him pull me to the dance floor. I hear people laughing as he shows me where to put my hands, and then lifts me onto his feet.

"This is embarrassing." I mumble. He just smiles.

_You're a falling star_

_You're the getaway car_

_You're the line in the sand_

_When I go too far_

I start laughing, because earlier this week, I was telling him that this song reminds me of us, and it's true. Peeta starts laughing me, and I let him make us dance.

_You're the swimming pool_

_On an August day_

_And you're the perfect thing to say_

_And you play it coy_

_But it's kinda cute_

_Oh when you smile at me_

_You know exactly what you do_

_Baby don't pretend_

_That you don't know it's true_

_'Cause you can see it_

_When I look at you_

_And in this crazy life_

_And through these crazy times_

_It's you, it's you_

_You make me sing_

_You're every line_

_You're every word_

_You're everything_

_You're a carousel_

_You're a wishing well_

_And you light me up_

_When you ring my bell_

_You're a mystery_

_You're from outer space_

_You're every minute of my every day_

_And I can't believe_

_That I'm your man_

_And I get to kiss you baby_

_Just because I can_

He kisses me, and people start whistling.

_Whatever comes our way_

_We'll see it through_

_And you know_

_That's what our love can do_

He dips me and spins me three times, and then sends me right back into his chest.

_And in this crazy life_

_And through these crazy times_

_It's you, it's you_

_You make me sing_

_You're every line_

_You're every word_

_You're everything_

_And so la la la la, la la la_

_So la la la la, la la la_

_And in this crazy life_

_And through these crazy times_

_It's you, it's you_

_You make me sing_

_You're every line_

_You're every word_

_You're everything_

_You're every song_

_And I sing along_

_'Cause you're my everything_

_Yeah, yeah_

_So la la la la, la la la_

_So la la la la, la la-la-la, la la la_

It really was a perfect song. Peeta pulls me off of the dance floor, and they just start the music, and I put my shoes back on, and Peeta pulls me to the side and sits down at our seats with me.

"So…I just wanted to inform you that you've forgotten something for this that is _very_ important."

"What?" I ask.

"The cake."

My hand covers my mouth and I start standing up, but he pulls me right into his lap.

"I was told by your Mom and Uncle two weeks ago." He informs me. "And I took care of it. I grew up in a bakery, remember baby?"

"You_ made_ the cake?" I ask. Our faces are so close together, but nobody cares. Johanna is taking pictures of us and I don't even care.

"Yes." He grins. "I had to do something."

"I can't believe I forgot the cake."

"Well…" he shrugs.

Johanna starts hitting the hell out of a wine glass with her knife.

"Can we have everyone's attention please?" she yells, and everyone goes silent and the music shuts off. "The bridal party thinks it's fair that we get to say a few things about the bridge and the groom. We're going to start with the bride."

"What?" I whisper, and I look at Peeta. He shrugs.

"I don't know." We both start laughing as I stand up.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I say to Johanna, and he snickers.

"You forgot." She says. "You have to say something, remember? To Peeta, or anyone."

I mutter a swear and walk over to her.

"Did I forget anything else?" I whisper to her.

"The cake." She says.

"I know about that." I sigh.

"Then you're good." She says. "Wing it." And the microphone picks it up. People start laughing, and Peeta's watching the little chat, and he's smiling. I take the microphone and go to the stage.

"Um, honestly, I did forget about this and uh…I don't even know what this is…so I guess I'll just say whatever and hope it works out." There are some chuckles around the crowd. "Probably everyone here knows I've had a rough past." I begin. Silence falls all over the crowd. "For those of you that don't…I really don't want to explain it tonight. Anyways, when I met Peeta…well, he was with my brother Reed, who I didn't see since I was nine. I never wanted any guys around me…I didn't trust them. It took my three months to even say hi to Finnick. I point to him. To be honest, from the second I met Peeta, I always thought he was hot." Some giggles go around the crowd. I let out a breath. "And then I found out that my Mother and sister were alive, and I flew out to Salt Lake City with Finnick. Reed and Peeta showed up, and everyone was pressuring me to talk to Peeta, and I wouldn't do it. Finnick said he heard Peeta tell Reed that I was sexy." More laughs go around the room. "I still didn't want anything to do with him. then, the next morning, I woke up after Peeta and Anna. It was quiet and kind of awkward, and then Peeta tried brushing Anna's hair and she wouldn't let him. Peeta and I actually spoke, and I ended up brushing Anna's hair, and she called me Mommy." I smile. "We found out she was in my class, and then Mom and Prim came to visit and we went on the boat only this time is was me, Peeta, Anna, Reed, Mom, Prim, Johanna, Annie, Finnick, and Caitlin. I don't remember why, but I went wandering through the woods on the island and Peeta came and talked to me a little bit. I don't even remember what he'd said because it was kind of irrelevant. Then Johanna came to see me, and we got into an argument because she basically told me I was going to die alone if I didn't get with Peeta. Anyways, I ended up screaming at her and Peeta heard it, along with everyone else. I ran and hid in a tree and Mom made me listen to this song and…well, it brought my out of me shell enough to go and apologize to Peeta for being a douche and talking behind his back. He'd already known about my past though, because my brother, and we ended up talking about the little things all night, and when I woke up the next morning, Anna had snuggled up next to me, and I knew that even if I wanted to, I would never be able to get rid of the Mellark's. Anyways, Peeta brought me out of my shell. He turned me into who I am today, and I'm thankful for that. Peeta, you may be stubborn, and persistent and good at getting what you want, but I am too, and I love you, and I always will."

I get off the stage and hand the microphone and Johanna, and go and sit back in his lap.

"I love you." He whispers, and kisses me.

"I love you too."

Johanna calls Peeta up, and he moves me to my chair and walks to the stage.

"Katniss, when I met you, you were kind of like a little girl that was afraid of the dark, and I understand that. You were so beautiful though, and I vowed myself that day with Reed, right when I saw you turn to run because you didn't realize it was him, that I was going to bring you out of your shell, and I did. I'm glad that you don't try to hide anything anymore. You stand up for yourself, and say what you feel, and you may be brutally honest, and persistent, and _very_ good at convincing me of something, but I still love you more and more every day and I'm thankful to be able to call you my wife." He gets off the stage and comes back to me, and I move back to his lap and I kiss him.

"I love you." I mumble.

"I love you too."

Prim goes next. "Katniss, the last time I saw you, I was five, and I didn't really understand what was going on. All I knew is what was happening wasn't right. But still, when I was sad because my crayon broke and I came into your room crying, you hid all your feelings, put aside anything you were doing and you made me feel better. I remember when Mama and I left, I wanted you and Reed to come, and she said she couldn't make you guys. Honestly Katniss, I missed you, and even when I saw you nearly a year ago, I was so happy. Peeta, you better treat her right. I don't need a weapon to stand up for my sister."

Next is Graham. "Honestly, I didn't know about this speech thing until Johanna called Katniss up. I will say that Peeta, you were always kind of quiet about your feelings. You didn't really deal with girls in high school. I thought you were gonna die alone, but then you met Katniss, and when you guys came for Christmas, I knew you were gonna get married. Katniss, your my favorite little sister, and if anyone pisses you off, I'll be there to fight with you. Treat my brother right though." He walks off the stage, ad then Annie goes.

"Katniss, you were always such an interesting person. You may not think I know, but I could see the jealously in your eyes when Finn and I got married and I go pregnant with Caitlin. You were jealous that I had Finnick, you were jealous that I had the live you wanted, and now, we've both got it, and I am so happy for you guys. Peeta, thank you for bring her around." She walks off the stage and Rye goes up.

"I don't like lovey dovey. All I have to say is you guys make quite the pair, and you are some pretty awesome people to hang around, and your funny as hell when your drunk."

Next is Johanna.

"Brainless, you've shown me a million times over that you live up to your name. only, when you and Peeta got together, you weren't so brainless anymore. You were finally pulling your head out of your ass, and I'm proud of you for that. I will say that you two are some pretty wild partiers."

She gets off the stage and next is Reed.

"Peeta, you and I have been friends since eighth grade. Sure, I was moved out of my foster homes a ton of times, but I never moved schools. We went to college together, and you knew every single secret I had. I have to say. When we ran into Katniss on the beach, I knew you had a thing for her, because you were looking at her face." He snickers and Peeta's face gets red. "And Katniss, the real reason he left the beach was because he knew he was about to get really embarrassed really fast."

Oh god, Peeta got a boner at the sight of me.

"Oh god," Peeta groans, and buries his face in my back. I'm laughing so loud though, that Reed has t wait to continue.

It takes a while for it to fade though.

"Anyways," Reed says. "I love you both, and I'm not going to threaten you Peeta about hurting my baby sister, because I know you won't do it. I love you guys." He gets off the stage, and then I zone out.

Finally, they all finish, and the music starts with I Hope You Dance.

Peeta and I separate to go and greet people and thank them for coming. We get stuck chatting, and then food starts getting passed out, and I get Anna her food and then make Peeta eat with me.

We stay seat a while after dinner, and it's just us, and finally, I turn to him and whisper, "I want to move here, Peeta."

He looks at me in surprise.

"We can look tomorrow." He says. My eyes light up.

"Really?" I ask. He nods.

"It's got good schools and nice homes and nice neighbors and great scenery."

I grin huge and hug him.

"Time for cake!" the DJ says. Peeta pulls me to a table, and everyone crowds around. It's a beautiful cake and I really do love it. It's six tiered and circular. We cut the first piece, and I put it on a plate, and when he looks away, and smash it right in his face, and everyone starts laughing. He looks at me in shock, and I smirk and wipe some off his face and eat it.

So what does he do? He cuts another piece, and he smashes it in my face, and we all start laughing.

And we leave the cake there, and we let everyone have some, and then I get napkins and wipe my face, and his, and then we share a piece.

He keeps watching me.

"What?" I finally ask.

"I want to get out of here." He says. He leans over and whispers, "I want to get you out of that dress."

I start to squirm because my reaction is immediate.

"Even that." He points to one of the pictures of him and I on the beach. "Isn't enough skin for me."

"Peeta." I whisper, shutting my eyes.

"What?" he whispers.

God dammit.

I get up and go find my mother.

She's talking with Mrs. Mellark.

"Hi sweetie." Mom smiles.

"How long until this is over?" I ask. Both of them start smiling.

"I guess now."

"Good." I walk back over to Peeta and sit down in his lap, resting my forehead against his. "This is over now." I mutter.

"We still have a ride." He explains.

I don't comment. They announce it's over, and everyone makes a path to get us out, and we walk out with Prim and Graham holding the doors for us. Peeta isn't driving, and I sit on my hands to keep me from touching.

It's going to be an agonizing two hours.

My legs keep bouncing and I can't even look at him. I hear him snickering.

Finally, the car stops at a cabin. The driver brings our stuff inside, and we stand outside till he drives away.

"We have to follow tradition." He says. His voice is so gentle and loving, that it calms me down. I'm actually kind of nervous. He sweeps me into his arms, and he carries me over the threshold, and he sets me down and shuts the door.

I pull him upstairs without turning on the light, and I find the master bedroom.


	17. Chapter 17

Sunlight streams through the window, and the view is beautiful. It's a cabin in the middle of nowhere, and all you see is the Rocky Mountains and trees.

I'm naked, and so is Peeta. The glistening on my finger grabs my attention.

Right. I'm _married_.

I roll over, and he's awake, his clear blue eyes are watching me.

"You are so beautiful." He whispers. I smile, and scoot closer to him.

"I love you." I mumble.

"I love you too." He whispers. "So we're house looking today?" he asks.

"If you want." I reply.

"I want." He says.

"It smells like cake and sex in here." I say, and we both start laughing, because it's true.

I get up and go into the bathroom. I don't know where he goes, but he doesn't come into the bathroom. I take a shower and wash all the makeup off, and then I wrap myself in a towel and prepare myself for the disaster of my suitcase.

"Peeta?" I call, when I see almost all of its skimpy clothes. He walks over to me and he's in his boxers, but he's showered.

"Katniss…" he trails off.

"What am I supposed to do?" I demand.

"Wear them." He says.

"I don't like them." I dig through and I find a pair of jean shorts, and a tank top and a bra and panties. "This will have to do." I grumble. "We're going to the store later."

"Well you will wear some of them, right?" he calls after me.

"We'll see!" I go upstairs change, and I brush my hair out and leave it down.

I come back downstairs, and we eat breakfast, and then Peeta gets his laptop, and I lean againt him on the couch and we start our hunt.

"Haymitch won't let us pay, Peeta." I whisper.

He doesn't say anything.

We go through house after house after house and I complain about all of them, until finally, I stop him and have him click on one house.

It's perfect. It's right in Boulder; it has a balcony coming out of the master that gives you a view of the mountains and the pine forests.

It's perfect.

"Peeta." I whisper. "I love it."

"Me too."

"Oh, can we get a tour of it? Please Peeta? On the way to the airport or something!"

"Alright honey." He whispers, and he calls the agent and sets us up, and then we get a taxi to the store so I can get more clothes


	18. Chapter 18

The honeymoon flew by, and we saw the house, and we got the house, but we can't move in until September 3rd. We're not going back to work until we get to the new house, but Haymitch is supporting us right now. I feel bad and Haymitch told me to fuck off when I told him. We're packing though, because we leave in a week. Peeta's at my house, because we don't live with one another yet, and Johanna, Anna, Finnick, Gale, Reed, and Caitlin show up.

"Katniss." Annie says. "Finn, Caitlin and I are moving."

"Where?" I ask.

"Well, we were looking all over and um, we're moving to Boulder." I look at them in shock as I put picture frames in boxes.

"And I'm moving to uh…Reservoir." Jo says. "It's a half hour from Boulder."

"I'm moving to boulder too." Reed mumbles.

"And uh…I'm pregnant." Johanna says, and the glass in my hand drops, but Peeta catches it.

"What?" I stand up shocked.

"I said I'm pregnant."

"With _who's_ kid?"

"Sperm donor." She shrugs. "I was tired of waiting."

"Johanna! This is great news!" I hug her. "Are you excited?"

She nods.

"So I'm going to assume you guys are moving." Annie says. "And didn't tell us."

"Yeah uh, we're going to Boulder."

"Are you serious?" Finn demands. I nod.

…a…

Peeta and I bring in box after box, and we let Anna carry the little, non-breakable things.

We work together with the furniture, and by the time night falls, the truck is unloaded. We're staying with Finn and Annie until I paint the house, because right now it's some blue that makes the living room look much smaller than it actually is and it don't like it. I found the paint, and after we get everything in the house, Peeta leaves with Anna and I start painting. I'm doing it a nice light tan that I'm painting every room downstairs that isn't a bedroom or something. I paint till midnight, and then I end up falling asleep on a chair out on the deck.

….a….

I'm being shaken awake. I force my eyes open to see Finn standing above me. "You painted everything." He says. "The smell is gone enough already and the walls are dry. It looks good."

I stand up and stretch, and then I go in the house, and it does look really good. I start arranging furniture, and Finn helps me for a while before Peeta gets here and takes over.

When you walk in the door, the stairs are on your left and there's a half wall for the railing. There's a balcony upstairs overlooking the living room, which is on your right when you walk in. the windows overlook the mountains. The kitchen is to the left, in front of the stars, but further up, and the dining room is in there. There's a basement door at the base of the stairs, and upstairs has four rooms. There's a half bathroom off of the kitchen, and there's a bathroom in Peeta and I's room and there's a bathroom in the guest room, and then the basement is a game room and it has a bathroom too. There are also French doors in me and Peeta's room that lead out to the balcony.

It's a beautiful home. We set up the furniture today and make the beds, and I start unpacking the bookshelves, and Peeta sets up the TV and the fridge and the stove and stuff like that. The day flies by, and by the end, I've got the whole house unpacked and set up.

On the wall in front of the living room that the stairs are on, which reaches the ceiling after following the stairs, there's a picture of me, Anna, and Peeta at the wedding.

My phone starts ringing after giving Anna a bath.

"Hello?"

"Hi honey." Mrs. Mellark says.

"Hi." I say.

"I was wondering if your family and Peeta's family could come to your guys' for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I hate to ask and to invite ourselves, but you guys have the biggest house out of everyone, and well, I want to see."

"Um, yeah, I'll have to ask Peeta, but I bet he'll be fine with it."

"Ask me what?" Peeta asks, walking into Anna's room, which is pink.

"If our family on both sides can come for the holidays."

"All of them?" he asks.

"Honey, we have more room than any one of them."

"That's true." He shoves his hands in his pockets. "You tell her whatever you what." He says.

I sigh. "You guys can come."

"Awesome. Thanks sweetie, I love you."

"I love you too." I hang up.

I put Anna to bed and go back downstairs to Peeta. He's watching a movie on the couch, so I lay with him.

It's fucking hot in here.

I'm going back to kindergarten, and I start work in a week, and Peeta is going to high school, but he's doing senior English. English isn't until the day of school.

It's awesome though, because Jo and Ann got hired; only Jo has to teach second.

I'm going tomorrow to set up my classroom.

…k…

My alarm goes off at seven and I get dressed and bring my boxes of stuff and go into work. I'm greeted by the secretary; explain I'm Mrs. Mellark, the new kindergarten teacher, and then I go down to my classroom. I set up boxes, and I put stuff on the walls, and I start getting dizzy and hot, so I sit down. I dizziness makes me nauseous, but I don't puke. I take a sip of water. It passes, and I go back to work, taking little sips of water every now and then.

Johanna is two months pregnant now. Apparently she was pregnant at the wedding.

Annie walks into my classroom looking happy.

"I'm glad your back to work with me." she says.

I smile and continue unpacking boxes.

Open house is Friday, and I'm almost done setting up. I get dizzy again, and then I remember I didn't eat breakfast. Annie makes me sit and gives me the rest of her muffin.

"Do I need to call Peeta?" she asks.

"No Ann, I'm fine." I say, swallowing the muffin and taking a sip of water.

"Okay." She sighs, and she goes back to her room, which is two doors down from mine. I finish, and I leave.

Annie called Peeta, and he makes me eat this huge ass breakfast when I get home, scolding me for starving myself.

Damn her.


	19. Chapter 19

It's November forth. I wake up at the ass crack of dawn because it's cold, and when I look out the French doors, it's snowing. It's the first time it's snowed. I walk out there and hold my hand out. I hear Peeta groan loudly.

"Shut the door!" he moans.

I close the door, and realize that I don't feel good. I have a headache, and my stomach hurts. It's a weird cramp that I've never felt before. It feels like there's movement inside of me or something, and it alerts me.

I'm dizzy, too. I walk into the bedroom and shut the door.

"Peeta, I'm going to the doctors." I say.

"Why?" he asks.

"Because I don't feel good." I say.

"Okay. Do you want me to come with you?"

"No." I say, and I put on a long sleeve white sweater, jeans boots, my coat, my beanie, and then I go downstairs and slip out the door with my phone and keys. It's Saturday, so no work today.

I drive for a while to Walgreens and I go into the walk in clinic.

"So what brings you here today?" the nurse asks. She's nice and it's kind of annoying.

"Um, I've got weird stomach pains, a headache, and I've been kind of dizzy." I admit.

"What do the stomach pains feel like?" she asks.

"Um…it's like a cramp. Sometimes it feels like something's moving."

"Where?" she asks.

"Um, right here." I say. I'm wearing my glasses today because I don't have any more contacts right now. I point to right around my belly button.

She pokes around a bit. She smiles then.

"How old are you?" she asks.

"Twenty six…" I trail off. She smiles.

"Honey, when is the last time you had your menstrual cycle?"

I shrug. "I don't remember, why?"

Lift your shirt up." She says. I do as I'm told. She turns me sideways, and had me look at my stomach in the mirror. "Sweetie, you're not sick, you're pregnant."

"That's impossible!" I say.

"Are you sexually active?" she asks.

"Yes but-"

"Are you married?"

"Yes but-"

"How long ago did you get married?"

"July, but-"

"Sweetie, your five months pregnant."

I fall silent.

I'm pregnant?

No. There has to be some other explanation.

No. there isn't. I haven't wanted sex _at all_, I've had cravings, I haven't gotten my period, I'm dizzy, a headache…

God, I'm five months pregnant.

I pay her and rush out, and I speed home and I swear I'm going to cry. When I pull in, Jo, Ann, Finn Caitlin, Reed, and Gale are here. I go storming into the house, crying. the door slams hard behind me, and just as Peeta tries to stop me, I push him away and run upstairs.

I go out to the balcony, and I sit on the railing with my hands on either side of me, and I just stare out at the mountains and the snowy forest.

I'm pregnant.

And it wasn't planned. I'm blasted back months.

_"If you get pregnant Katniss I swear to god-" Mom says, but I'm already pissed, and everyone knows I have a short temper._

_"What?" I demand._

_"I don't want you to have a baby." Mom says. "Not until your married, and I don't want a mistake for a grandchild."_

_"Yes. We don't want a mistake baby." Mrs. Mellark agrees. "We'll shun you guys if you have a baby without our consent."_

We're going to lose our family.

I stare blankly out at the scenery. I hear the door open, and slide closed.

"Katniss honey…you're going to fall." He grabs my waist and he pulls me down. "What'd the doctor tell you?"

I lean against the railing. "I'm pregnant, Peeta." I whisper. He stares at me.

"What?"

"I'm pregnant."

He's quiet for a really long time. "I thought you wanted this."

"I do, but…but our parents…they said…" I start crying.

"Oh honey," he pulls me into his arms. "They're not going to shun us. They were just mad sweetie."

"But what if they weren't Peeta!" I yell at him. "What if they were serious?"

"Katniss," he begins.

"No! What happens if they were serious? They won't love the kid because it wasn't _planned_? Just because the baby wasn't planned, doesn't mean it's a mistake!"

"Katniss, I'm with you on this." he sighs. "I'm telling you right now, they won't be mad. I didn't tell them about Anna and they love her with all of their heart. What makes you think this is any different?"

"They said…" I hiccup. "That they don't want a it!"

"Katniss." He says, and he's getting irritated.

I feel the baby move, and I let out a scream and I run back in the house.

Reed and Finn try to stop me, because they clearly know _exactly_ what happened, but I push them away and run out the door, and into the woods. I run until I can't see the house, and then I sit in the snow and pull me legs against my chest, and I just cry.

The bay is moving a lot, and I can feel it against my legs, and it only makes me cry harder, because I love my baby, but I'm going to lose my family because of it.

…a…

It takes me three hours to realize I'm being ridiculous. This is our baby. Me and Peeta's baby. This is our product of love. Who fucking cares if they don't want the baby? I'll raise this baby with a backbone. If they want to miss out, that's their choice. I love my children. If they don't them I'll happily walk them to the door, but this sure as hell isn't Peeta's fault.

I stand up, and I'm really cold, and I trudge back to the house. The shades are drawn in the living room and nobody's on the balcony.

Slowly, I walk into the house and close the door, my hands shoved in my jacket, which, I actually realize, is our further than it used to be. My hands rest on my stomach farther out than they normally are. Peeta spins around.

"Peeta-"

"You don't need to apologize. You must be cold. Come here." He walks into the kitchen, and I follow him.

"Peeta." I whisper. "I do need to apologize. I'm sorry. It's not your fault and honestly, I love your baby, and if they want to not, that's their loss."

"Exactly." He says. "It's okay." He starts making me hot chocolate.

Everyone joins us in the kitchen.

"So...you're pregnant." Johanna says.

I nod and accept the hot chocolate Peeta hands to me.

"Did the doctor say how far along you are?" Annie asks. I look at Peeta in hesitation.

"Five months.

"Bullshit! You're not even showing." Finn says.

"I am, actually." I mumble.

"No." Peeta shakes his head.

I take off my coat and lift my shirt up and turn to the side.

"She's the same size I was at five months." Annie points out.

"Well then you're two months ahead of me." Johanna says.

"You could find out the sex." Annie says quietly.

"Well I'm making you a doctor's appointment." Peeta says.

"I'm putting all my money that it's a girl." Finn says. Peeta shakes his head.

"No. It's a boy."

"What if it's not?" I ask. He shrugs.

"I don't care what it is." He says.

"What does pregnant mean?" Anna asks.

"It means you're going to have a new brother or sister." I say. Her eyes light up.

"Really?" she asks. I nod. "Where is it now?"

"Right here." I point to my belly.

"It is?" she walks over to me and knocks on my belly. "Are you in there?"

She's so cute.


	20. Chapter 20

I went to the doctors alone because Peeta had to monitor a football game, which he was pissed about.

Needless to say, I know the sex.

Peeta comes running in the door later that night. "Katniss!" he shouts, and I come downstairs. "Did you find out the sex?" he demands. I smile and nod. "Well? Tell me!"

"Eh." I shrug.

"Katniss." He whines, following to the kitchen. I stir the noodles. "You better tell me."

I sigh. "No, I don't think I will."

"Please?" he begs. He looks so excited, like a child on Christmas morning.

"Guess." I say.

"It's a boy. I just know it."

"It's not a boy."

"So it's a girl." He says.

"It's not that either."

"Katniss!" he says. "Tell me!"

"Fine," I smile. "It's a girl."

"Are you serious?" I nod. His eyes light up and he gets the biggest smile, and he starts to pace the kitchen.

"She's healthy and she's doing well. Doc says I'm going to get really big really fast, and I'll be pretty big by Thanksgiving."

"She's going to be just like you. Oh god, I can't wait."

"I'm excited." I smile. He kisses me.

"This is so excited." He looks like a big child.

"I'll be right back." I go upstairs and I get the picture of the ultrasound. I go back downstairs and show it to him, and he looks super excited. He studies her, and then he kisses me again while I stir the noodles. "What are we going to do about the fat that I'll be a water buffalo by Thanksgiving?" I ask.

He shrugs. "When everyone gets here, I'll tell them we have a surprise, and then you come out of the bedroom, and you'll be pregnant. If they don't like it, I'll hold the door open." He shrugs.

"I'm nervous." I admit.

"Well don't." he says. "It's a girl Katniss. We're having a baby girl."

"Yeah…I was thinking…" I take a deep breath. "Addaley?" I ask.

"For her name?" he asks, and I nod. "I love it. Addaley."

"Like…A-D-D-A-L-E-Y."

"Perfect." He looks crazy excited. "Did the doc say your due date?" he asks.

"March forth." I smile.

….a….

The baby is moving around a lot now, and the doctor was right. I did spring up, and I look huge. Annie was surprised, and she said that she didn't do that.

But now, I'm sitting upstairs. Peeta's downstairs and I hear everyone asking where I am. Jo, Ann, Finn, Reed, and Gale are here and they're ready to support us and stick up for us if they have to.

They're all here, and I'm waiting. I hear Peeta say something, and then he calls me downstairs. I slowly go downstairs, and I see all of their eyes get huge. Peeta links our fingers.

"We're having a baby."

Everyone tells us congratulations.

Except for Mom and Mrs. Mellark.

"I didn't realize you guys were trying to have a baby." Mom says. I let go of Peeta's hand and cross my arms.

"We weren't." I say.

"So it was…I don't know, a mistake?"

"Lily." Mrs. Mellark says. "Who really cares? We get a new grandbaby."

Mom sighs. "You're right. Congratulations guys."

I give them all the baby information, and then Anna whispers. "Mommy?"

I look down at her. "Hmm honey?"

"When the new girl comes, will you like me less because I wasn't in you?" she looks sad, and I can tell she seriously wants to know. Actually, her eyes are filled with tears.

I pick her up. "No honey. I'll love you even _more_ than I love you now."

"So you don't love me a lot now?" she asks.

"No, I love you a lot, but I love you more each day, just like I love Daddy more each day."

"Really?" she asks.

"Yeah."

"Okay. I love you Mommy." She says as I set her down.

"I love you too baby."

"We need to go baby shopping." Mrs. Mellark says.

"Oh, unless you're getting me a stroller, I am not going _anywhere_." I say, dropping onto the couch and putting my feet up. Peeta snickers.

"She can't even make it past nine at night anymore." Peeta says. I scowl, and he just laughs. "And she doesn't like to be touched."

"I bet you haven't been laid in a while." Rye says. He shrugs.

"A few months."

People make themselves at home, and the Mrs. and Mr. Mellark make dinner. We all eat, and then put the kids to bed, and then we start a movie. Peeta sits down next to me, but he doesn't touch me, because he knows I'll just push his hands away. If he really wanted to, I'd have sex with him and I'd hold his hand and let him touch me, but he doesn't press.

We're watching Daddy Day Care. I feel myself starting to get tired, so I lean against Peeta. He jumps on the chance and puts his arm around me, kissing the top of my head.

I stop watching the movie and drift off.

….a….

I'm in bed when I wake up, and I feel like shit. My back hurts, and I just lay there with my arm over my eyes, blocking the bright sun. I don't fall asleep again, but I lay there for god knows how long.

"Baby," Peeta says.

"I'm up." I mumble.

"What's wrong?"

"My back fucking hurts." I say.

"We have a checkup today, remember?"

I groan so loud that they hear it downstairs and they start laughing.

I force myself up and I take a shower, and I put on a maternity sweater and sweatpants, grumbling about how I feel like a fatass. I don't even bother with my hair, I just put it up, un-brushed, and put on my boots and go stomping downstairs.

"Ready?" Peeta asks.

"You're driving." I mutter, walking out into the snow. I hear him chuckle as he trudges after me.

….a….

"How are you feeling today Katniss?" Doc asks me. Today is my six month mark. I cross my arms.

"Shitty." I mutter.

"And Dad, how are you?"

Peeta shrugs. "I'm good."

"Well Katniss, how about you lay down and I can check on baby. Is she moving a lot?"

"Yes." I say, and I lay down.

"I'm starting to think you might be a bit further along than I thought." The Doc says when she sees the baby.

"What?" I ask.

"Did you guys have sex say…around June?"

"Yes." I say.

He nods and does some shit I don't understand. "I think you're eight months and one week out from delivery."

"That's impossible." I say.

"Given your size and the baby's size, and your mood, and you back and swollen ankles, it's very possible."

I stare at him. Peeta stares at him.

"There's…" I shut my eyes. "What's my due date?"

"December first."


	21. Chapter 21

I go in the house after Peeta, and I'm fucking pissed.

"You guys better fucking stick around!" I snap, and storm upstairs.

"What happened?" Annie asks.

"She's eight months and two weeks out from delivery."

"It's very possible. A due date is just an estimation." Mom says.

"Well she's pissed off." Peeta says.

"Why?" Reed asks.

"Because we don't even have a onesie."

"Well then I say you stay home with Katniss and the kids on Thanksgiving and all of us go out and we go black Friday shopping." Mr. Mellark says. "And Johanna stays to, that way if there's a surprise labor, someone's here with the kids."

Everyone starts agreeing, and I go downstairs and sit down on the couch.

"Don't worry honey, we're got it covered." Mom says.

I can't believe I'm having a baby in two weeks with my husband.


	22. Chapter 22

**The original plan was to end this story and start a new one and then make a sequel for this, but I'm not ready to do that yet, so I've decided to continue this.**

I wait till nine in the morning, and then I slip out of bed, and I get dressed, and I slip out the door.

I don't believe that I'm having the baby so soon. I get the due date is an estimation, but honestly I'm _huge_, and I have some suspicions.

I think that doctor is a lying, sleazing scumbag, and I want some proof.

Everyone is still asleep. I grab the keys to Peeta's truck, and my wallet and phone, and just as I get my hand on the doorknob, a voice tops me. "And where do you think you're going this early in the morning?"

It's Peeta. Dammit, I should've known better than to think that he wouldn't wake up.

I freeze, and slowly turn around. He's at the balcony that overlooks the living room. His face is stern, and her arms are crossed.

"Uh…I was just um…" I look at him. He arches his eyebrows, and I turn around and run.

"Katniss!" he says, and I hear him run down the stairs after me. I get to the truck and I can't even get in the door before he stops me. "Let's go." He says. "Inside." He puts both hands on my shoulders and walks toward the house, pushing me along.

He must have said my name loud, because he woke everyone up. He shuts the door and takes the keys from me.

"What are you thinking? You're eight weeks out from delivery and you're trying to run?"

"I was just…" I bite my lip.

"Where were you going?" he asks, shoving the keys in his pants when I try to grab them.

"I don't know what makes you think I won't go down there." I say, but he grabs my wrist when I try.

"Where were you going?" he asks again. I cross my arms.

"Please just let me go." I beg.

He sighs. "Not until I know where you're going, why you're going, and when you'll be back."

"I just…" I sigh, and I push his hands away, stick my hand right down his sweatpants, and I snatch the keys right out of his boxers. To be blunt, my hand touched his dick. "I don't think I'm eight months." I cross my arms.

"Katniss…" Mom says. She's tired, but she's a midwife, and even half awake, she knows more about babies than I do. "You're eight months sweetie."

I shake my head. "If I was eight months, I would've known before."

"No necessarily. Some people don't know they're pregnant till they're in labor." Mom says. I sigh.

"But the ultrasounds…" I shake my head. "I want to get a second opinion." I say. "Now move."

"Katniss." Peeta says.

"You told me I could go when I told you everything. I'll be home before noon."

He looks really, really hesitant.

"Fine, I want a call right when you get there and when you're leaving." He says. "If I don't hear from you by ten thirty, I'll come looking for you, and if I don't find you by eleven, I'll call the cops."

He's dead serious.

"Okay." I say, and I stomp outside, muttering under my breath.

I get there right at then thirty, and I call him right away.

He's very flustered and I can hear annoyance in his tone.

"Call my when you leave." He says.

"I will." I say. "Peeta?"

"What?" he almost snaps.

"I love you…" I hang up and shut my phone off, kind of upset. I didn't do anything wrong and he's snapping. I told him I'd call. I went to a far doctor, just in case. I walk in and talk to the receptionist about how I made an appointment, which I did.

I only have to wait about ten minutes, and then I get called in.

He asks a ton of questions and I explain exactly why I'm here. He nods.

"And where's Daddy?" he asks.

"At home with our other baby." I smile. He nods, and he lifts my shirt and pours the cold liquid on and puts the wand on my baby.

And again, there it is. It sounds like two heartbeats. The doctor looks confused.

"I understand why you're confused…" he says. He looks so confused.

"Well is something wrong?" I demand.

"Have you ever heard of superfetation?" he asks.

I shake my head.

"Well basically it's when…and it's very rare Katniss, I've dealt with this only twice in all my forty years of this job, but basically it's when a pregnant woman releases an egg a few weeks into her pregnancy. The second egg is fertilized, and the woman is then pregnant with two babies simultaneously." I stare at him. "It's really remarkable because when you're pregnant, you're supposed to shut down you're horomones, but…well, you didn't. Did you have sex say…two months after the pregnancy?"

I close my eyes. "We got married." I mutter. "So yes."

"Well…it looks like the other doctor was half right. You're pregnant with an eight month old baby girl, _and_ you're pregnant with a five month old baby boy." He prints out pictures of the ultrasound and I start asking questions.

"So does that mean something could be wrong with the babies?" I ask. He shrugs.

"It's very possible, but when I delivered the two like this, nothing was wrong with either of them, but they were both smaller."

"So how is this going to work? What about my son? He's going to be a preemie?"

He nods. "Yes. He's going to be eight and a half months then. He's eight now. He'll be fine though."

"Thanks." I say, and after he cleans the jelly of my belly, I pull my shirt over it and get up. I pay, and I take the pictures, and I go out to the truck, and I turn my phone on, and I call Peeta.

"Are you leaving?" he asks.

"Yes, and you better fucking sit down, you're not going to believe this."

I hang up, and I speed home. I get there in an hour, and it's an hour and a half drive.

Everyone is waiting impatiently on the couch when I walk in the door.

"What happened?" Peeta demands.

I start to pace. "I can't explain it, but…we're having a daughter, and we're having a son, but they're not twins, and they're not the same age."

Mom connects the pieces right away.

"Lemme see!" she says. I hand her the ultrasound picture.

"I'm confused." Peeta says.

"She's pregnant with two babies, but they're in separate bags of water, and this is very rare, but basically, you got her pregnant, and two weeks later, you got her pregnant again. It's called superfetation."

"So…what about our son?" Peeta asks. "He's going to be premature?"

Mom slowly nods. "He's going to be fine though. Katniss was born a month early and the only problem with her is her vision and her attitude." I scowl, and Mom snickers. "Sorry sweetie, but it's true."

"How long will we have to be at the hospital?" he asks.

"He'll be in there two weeks or so." Mom says. "We really need to do a lot of shopping on Thanksgiving."

Everyone agrees. Peeta and I go out to the paint store.

I pick out a lilac purple for Addaley that Peeta agrees with, and then he picks out a very light turquoise, and we go back to the house, and we put down paper on the floor, and we start painting.

I let Peeta and Rye and Graham paint the rest of Addaley's room, because I'm dizzy and tired and I really just want to sit down.

I end up falling asleep on the couch.

…..a…..

I wake up after a few hours and go upstairs. They painted the rest of Addaley's room, and they're halfway done with our baby boys.

The boys leave, letting Peeta and I do it together.

"It looks good." I say quietly.

"Yeah…I was thinking…" he hesitates. "How to you like Denver?"

I shrug. "It's okay. Why?"

"Because…wait, I don't mean the city baby, I mean the name."

"Denver?" I repeat. "I think it's cute. Let's name the baby that."

"Okay. What about middle names?" he asks. "I like Nicole for Addaley."

"Okay, and how about Aaron for Denver?" I ask. He smiles huge.

"I love it, baby." He whispers.

I hug him, and he hugs me back.

"I love you, Peeta." I whisper.

"I love you too, honey."

I stand there in his arms for a while, and then I help him paint, and together, we finish the baby's room.


	23. Chapter 23

I did something I haven't done in months last night. I had sex. I decided it was time.

When I wake up, I realize its Thanksgiving. I shower and then pull on underwear and don't even bother with a bra. My boobs are huge and I don't want one. I rummage around in my drawers in nothing but my underwear, and then I just take one of Peeta's shirts. I force myself to wear a sports bra, and then I pull on sweatpants. I go downstairs, and everyone is sitting around the coffee table, and they're arguing.

"No! I think we all should have a list of what we need to buy! There's two babies now! Someone could easily end up buying the same thing as the rest of us, and then we'll be fucked. We need a list, that way we get what's on it, and we don't buy the same thing." Annie says. She's very frustrated.

"No!" Prim says. "It's _black Friday_. We don't have time to look at a list!"

Everyone starts bickering, and Peeta just watches, his arms crossed, shirtless, leaning against the wall.

I watch them, and then I get a sharp kick in the rips, and I don't know if it;s from Addaley or Denver. My annoyance soars.

"SHUT UP!" I shout, and silence falls among the group. "Annie's right."

Everyone begins to argue, and I yell at them again, and they fall silent. "What happens if we get four cribs?" I demand. "Or six changing tables? We're having _two_ babies, which means we need one of everything boy and one of everything girl. You guys need a list. You can follow the list. It's black Friday shopping. Get ruthless. Rip stuff from people's hands. Deal with a list."

"I agree." Peeta says. "You guys will be fucked without a list."

Everyone slowly agrees,and then they start fighting over who is buying what.

I shout at them. "How many group are there?" I demand. "Separate!"

Teaching kindergarten has taught me how to control a group of people.

Everyone seperates into their groups.

"Now, everyone from one person in a group raise your hands."

Everyone raises their hands, and I shut my eyes.

"You guys are ridiclious." I mutter. "I want one person in each group lined up.

So one person from a group lines up, and there's eleven groups. I go upstairs ad get my laptop, and I get a list of everything we'll need, and I start making lists.

I handwrite all of the lists, and then I fold them up and grab a hat.

"Line up again." I say as I go downstairs. They do. "Everyone pick one." They do, and people protest. "Suck it up. I don't want to deal with ignorance. That's what you get, okay? God, my kindergarteners are more mature than you people." I mutter.

All the Mellark's make a giant breakfast, and I pick one of everything, and anyone that looks at me weird gets the worst death glare I can muster.

I always have this habit of clearing off the table when I'm done, even if people are still eating. I've dumped Annie's food before. It pisses everyone off, and they keep taking stuff from my hands.

"You're such an idiot." Johanna mutters, drowning her apple slice in vanilla yogurt and devouring it.

Peeta gives me the "watch it, Baby" look. I shut my eyes, grit my teeth, and sit back down.

Anna has been very quiet lately, and I think something's wrong with her. I mentioned it to Peeta last night, and he agreed that something wasn't right.

Even now, she's playing with her food. Her head is down, and she's slouched in her seat. I nudge Peeta's with my foot. He looks at me, and I nod at Anna. He looks, and his eyebrows furrow.

I see her wipe her face with the back of her hand.

"Anna?" I ask, realizing she's crying.

"Yes?" she asks, not looking at me.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

She just shakes her head. "I'm not hungry!" she bursts into sobs and goes flying away from the table.

Peeta starts to go after her. "Let me." I say, and I get up and follow her to her room. Her door is open, and she's sitting on her bed, clutching her baby blanket, crying her little eyes out.

"Anna? What's wrong honey?"

"You a-aren't gonna love m-me no more when _you're_ babies are born!" she yells. "I don't have my Mommy no more."

"Oh honey." I whisper, and I sit down on her bed and pull her into my arms. "You are my baby, and so is Addaley, and so is Denver. Sweetie, I love you. Addaley and Denver won't change that. I love you honey. You still have me. I'm not going anywhere baby girl, I promise."

"But what if you say that now?" she whimpers.

"I do say that now, and I'll say that when the babies are born, and I'll say that forever. I'm not going anywhere honey."

"Do you promise?" she whispers.

"I promise." I kiss her forehead. "Don't be sad sweetie. I promise I won't go anywhere. You're my baby girl. I love you."

"I love you too." She whispers.

"Let's go bac downstairs."

"No, I want to stay with you." She whispers.

"You can, downstairs." I stand up, carrying her. She's still clutching her blanky. "Do you want proof?" I whisper, and she nods. I slip into me and Peeta's room, and I hand her use my baby blanket. "This was mine when I was a little girl." I whisper. "You can _borrow_ it."

She knows how much I love my blanket.

I carry her downstairs.

I don't like the idea of sharing my blanket, but I'd do anything for Anna.

She covers her face with my blanket. I waddle back downstairs to into the dining room. They're all quiet, and obviously they heard her yelling at me.

"Is she okay?" Peeta asks.

"She's fine." I reply.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

"I'm fine." I sit down. She shifts into a more comfortable position.

I can feel her breathing even out, and I know she fell asleep.


	24. Chapter 24

The nursery's are done, and it's the day before my due date.

Peeta is so mad at me right now, because I snuck out of the house and went to work.

We got into a huge fight last night about it, and I told him I wouldn't go. I didn't promise him, I just told him.

The kids are doing a worksheet, and the fire alarm goes off.

"Get in a line and follow me!" I say, and I grab the attendance book. The kids do as they're told, and honestly, I've been having contractions every few minutes and I'm not telling anyone. It's definitely less than every ten minutes. I grit my teeth and try not to cry out.

I'm starting to think that I should have stayed home.

Peeta was right, but I'll never tell him that. Anna's at school today, and I can see her in line with her class. Annie is watching me. Johanna is watching me. Caitlin is watching me, and Anna is, too.

I have two contractions then, and they're one minute apart. I know, because I'm looking at my watch.

They're stronger, too.

I look at Annie, and she gets the principle to watch her class. Johanna yells at someone to watch hers, and I swear I'm going to fall it hurts so bad. Jo and Annie help to hold me up and Annie sits me in her car.

"Someone call Peeta." I whisper. "The baby's are coming. Now."

Johanna does, and I hear people discussing calling an ambulance, but I refuse them.

It takes Peeta not even ten minutes to come flying down the road in his truck.

He slams the door, and he's kissed, but he's more concerned about me and the babies.

"Please don't yell at me." I gasp.

"I won't." He says, and he grabs both of my hands. He looks at Annie. "I need you to bring Anna home from school. You can come to the hospital. I'll text you with updates, and you, Johanna."

"My car though!" I say.

"Rye and Graham got it covered." He says. "They have the spare key."

He helps me into the car, and goes flying down the road.

I moan. "Oh my god this fucking hurts!"

We pull into the hospital, and I'm rushed upstairs. They're going to do an emergency cesarean section.

They drug me, and it works almost instantly, and I pass out.

PEETA'S POV

I'm waiting anxiously in the waiting room, which is right next door to the room Katniss is in. I'm pacing. Another man is in here, and his kid is here, and he's wringing his hands and is watching his daughter play on the floor.

"First time?" he asks.

"With my wife, yeah. Our daughter is a surrogate."

He nods. "Same here, only my daughter is adopted."

"What's your name?" I ask.

"Thresh." He smiles. "What's yours?"

"Peeta." I mutter.

"What's the sex?" he asks.

"She's having two, not twins. One is two week older." I go into explaining everything. He nods.

"Picked any names out?"

"Addaley and Denver." I mutter.

The room gets quiet after he explains he's having a son, and I drift out of focus, and then I hear a commotion, and yelling, and nurses running, and I mean _running_ into Katniss's room.

"Wonder where they're going." Thresh says.

"They're going to my wife." I whisper. voices are quiet, aside from the commotion.

And that's when I hear it. The sound of two crying babies.

And the sound of one long, extended beep.

I think I'm going to die.

It's Katniss' heart monitor.

Thresh gets stone faced, and I feel all the blood run from my face. I whip my phone out and start calling Mom.

"Peeta, how's-"

"She's dead Mom." I mumble.

"Who?" Mom demands. "Addaley?"

"No."

I hear her whispering, and then I'm put on speaker.

"Who Peet?" Rye asks carefully.

"Katniss she's…she's…"

"We're on our way." Mom says, and the line goes dead.

They get here in ten minutes, and by now Thresh is sitting next to me on the floor and my head is in my hands. They all have worried faces, and Rye and Graham sit next to me when Thresh sees the similarity, realizes we're related and moves.

I hear the commotion stop. Katniss's doctor says something quietly, and then I hear footsteps and he walks into the waiting room. He has blood on him, and his hands are in the pockets of his lab coat. His face is completely emotionless. I stare at him, and he looks back, and then takes a deep breath.

"You're wife…she died…" he quiet for a minute, reading the faces of the room. "But uh…after a lot of hard work…" he sighs. "We brought her back, and…she's going to be weak for a while, and we broke a few ribs going the chest compressions, but um…she's going to be okay."

I stand up. "How?"

"Um…well, she lost a lot of blood, and her heart stopped."

I look at the blood on his coat. "That's her blood?" I ask quietly. He sighs, and then nods.

"She's okay though. We already have more blood going into her. She's stitched up, and we changed her clothes and the sheets. Your kids are safe and healthy. Your son is smaller because he's two weeks premature, and he'll be staying here until he's safe to be out of the hospital."

"I want to see my wife, and I want to see my kids." I say.

He nods, and he leads me into the room. I could die just looking at her. Her heartbeat is steady, and her breathing is slow, like she's sleeping. Her facial expression hasn't changed, but she's noticeably paler.

Why does everything bad always have to happen to her?

She's so strong, so beautiful.

I walk to her bedside, and I peek into the little plastic cribs. Goodness, they're both so beautiful. Denver is smaller. He's noticeably smaller. He looks like me in many ways. He has Katniss's nose though. Everything else is mine. I can't see the eye color, because his eyes are closed, but Addaley. My goodness. She's is a spitting image of her mother. She has my ears, other than that, she's all Katniss. From the hair, to the lips, to the cheeks, and nose, she is just all her Mama. I can't see her eye's either.

We made two beautiful children, and have another one at school. I look at the doctor, and I watch as he walks out, pausing at the door.

I don't know who to hold first, so I pull a chair up and carefully, I pick both of them up.

After a half hour or so, the family comes slipping into the room and the babies are taken from me. I start telling them to wash their hands.

I stand next to Katniss, and I brush the hair away from her face, and kiss her forehead while holding onto her hand.

She's so beautiful, and I sigh, because I'm worried, and I wish she'd just wake up so I could see her face.

I can't believe I just lost my wife.


	25. Chapter 25

PEETA'S POV

We can take Denver home in a week. Katniss held the babies for the first time, and she looked so happy. We even let Anna hold them, and she was super excited. We took a ton of photos, and Katniss isn't being discharged until Denver is. Johanna and Annie were really upset when they found out that Katniss died.

She's much better now, and Katniss convinced the family to leave insisting that they'd done more than enough and they had their lives to get back to.

They struggled, but listened.

It's Wednesday. The babies were born on Monday, December second. Both kids are asleep and Anna is sitting on the floor with her Barbie's. I'm sitting between Katniss's legs, and she's smiling because she sneezed and her phone fell off the bed. Yeah, it cracked, but she'd wanted the damn thing to crack. She says it gives it a name like its own personal design. She looks beautiful, and I can't help but smile too.

There's a soft knock on the door, and both Katniss and I look up to see Thresh. He's a tall, dark skinned, muscular man. He looks threatening, and the smile vanishes from her face right away. His wife is in a wheelchair, and there isn't one little boy in her arms, but two.

Katniss has never met Thresh before, and I know it's going to take a while to get her to trust him. All I know is his name, that he has a young daughter, and that his wife just had…well I guess twins.

Still, I like Thresh. His daughter is behind him, hugging a bear.

She's shy. Anna looks at her, and I see excitement cross her face.

"Want to play with me?" Anna asks the little girl. She hesitates at first, but then she nods and walks over to Anna. "What's your name?"

"Haden." She says.

Anna smiles, "I'm Annalise. You can call me that, or you can call me Anna. Mommy and Daddy call me Anna." Haden smiles and they start bonding, talking about their new siblings. Anna learns that Haden is in her grade and actually goes to her school.

"Well Peeta, you look better." Thresh smiles, and shakes my hand.

"Yes, I am _much_ better." I say, patting Katniss's knee. She looks confused. She's quiet. Thresh's wife is just observing us, and she's acting exactly like Katniss.

Honestly, it makes me wonder if she and Katniss have…similar pasts, if you know what I mean.

"I'm Thresh." He says to Katniss.

"Hi." She mutters. "I'm Katniss."

It's almost like Thresh is thinking the same thing about Katniss that I am about his wife.

"Baby, I met Thresh when uh, I was in the waiting room and um…" I trail off. I see understanding cross her features. "He calmed me down until everyone got here."

She'll warm up to him.

I look at Thresh's wife. "Hi, I'm Peeta." I shake her hand.

"Olivia." She mutters.

At the exact same time, Katniss and Olivia pick up their phones to pretend they're doing something.

"So I thought you were only having one son?" I ask.

"We did too, but we got a surprise." Thresh shrugs. "This is Darien." He says, pointing to one baby. "And this is Marcus."

I show them Addaley and Denver.

"So when do you guys get out of here?" I ask.

"A week." Thresh sighs. "She had a cesarean, and she's having some problems with excessive bleeding or something so uh, we're stuck here. How long for you guys?"

"Same as you, actually."

Thresh raises his eyebrows. "We seem to have a lot more in common than I thought." I see his eyes flick to his wife, and to Katniss, and I see him raise his eyebrows. He's asking me what we both want to know. If our wife's were raped. I hesitate and make sure Katniss isn't looking, and then I nod, barely moving my head. He sees it, and he sits down in a chair.

Denver starts crying suddenly. His eyes are Katniss's gray and Addaley's are my blue. Katniss puts her phone down. "Peeta." She says quietly. I get up and pick up Denver and hand him to her, because I don't have what he wants. She looks for something to cover herself with. "Can I have your shirt?" I nod and pull it over my head.

KATNISS'S POV

I don't like this man. He's big and scary, and he seems too nice to be safe. He's got to be faking it.

The thought of even having to feed my son in here when he's here isn't okay with me. I completely cover myself and let him eat. I know he won't try and do anything, and if he does, Peeta'll beat his ass.

Thankfully, Denver eats fast. I cover myself quickly and lay him on his belly on my arm and I pat his back till he burps.

His wife is very quiet, and very reserved, and she's looking at Thresh the same way I was.

Now, anyone knows that I'm probably the most blurt person in the world, so I just come right out with it. "Were you raped?" I demand. Thresh and Peeta fall silent.

Her eyes get huge, and she looks at me, studying my face closely. She narrows her eyes slightly, assessing.

"I don't know." She says. "Were _you _raped?"

I narrow my eyes. I like her. She's awesome. Thresh and Peeta are staring at us.

"I asked you first." I reply. She smirks.

"You said your name was Katniss?" she asks. I nod. "Well Katniss, if you _must_ know, I was raped by my brother when I was eleven. Now, I answered your question. It's your turn."

"Well _Olivia_, if you _must_ know, I was raped by my father when I was nine."

She shakes her head. "Bastard."

"Just what I was thinking about your brother." I reply.

"Well _Katniss_, just so you know, you don't need to be afraid of my husband. He looks big and scary but he's not. If I got a paper cut he'd force me to put peroxide and ointment on it, and then bandage it."

"Well _Olivia,_ you don't need to be afraid of my husband because he'd make me put ice on my head if it fell back on the pillow too hard during intercourse."

The four of us start laughing, waking all four of the babies. Peeta's laughing his ass off as he changes Addaley's diaper, and then Denver's, and then Thresh is laughing as he changes Darien, and then Marcus' diaper.

And we're _still_ laughing, as I feed Addaley and Peeta gets Denver back to sleep, and Olivia feeds both of her sons.

I wipe my tears away with my free hand.

"Oh god, that was good." Thresh says, and we're all wiping tears. Anna and Haden are oblivious.

"Well, I suppose I should actually speak to him then." Olivia says.

"Yes, and I suppose I should actually speak to your husband." I reply.

"Okay, I need your phone number." Olivia says, and she grabs my unlocked phone. She programs her number and then texts herself, and then adds me as a contact. "What's your last name?" she asks.

"Mellark." I say. She nods. Thresh and Peeta exchange numbers and I burp Addaley.

"What's your last name?" Peeta asks.

"Michael."

"So…" Olivia hesitates. "How old are you?"

"Twenty seven in May," I reply. She nods. "You?"

"Twenty eight in May."

God, I have more in common with them than I actually thought I would.


	26. Chapter 26

I can't even explain to anyone in the entire world how happy I was to get home. I took a shower right away, and then I fed the babies, and I read a bedtime to Anna and I went to bed. I made Peeta get up for the babies unless they were hungry. I left him sleep the next night, and then we started to take turns during nights.

I'm so fucking exhausted, and Annie and Finn started sleeping over on weekends and they took take the kids all night and made my pump.

I'm on maternity leave, and so is Peeta.

It's a Friday, when the kids are going, that I get the phone call.

"Hello?" I ask, sitting down on the couch next to Jo. They got back from work and they took Anna home.

"Hi Katniss." The principle of my work says. "You got a minute?" her voice is too calm.

"Sure." I say.

"Well, I'm calling with some…_unfortunate_ news." She doesn't sound legit. I wave frantically for everyone to shut up and put it on speaker.

"Okay…" I say.

"Well…we're going to have to let you go." I raise my eyebrows. "You kind of went into labor in front of a ton of kindergarteners…so…"

I'm silent for the longest time. "Yes, because I can definitely control when my children decide to come." I say. "I'm sorry for your loss." I hang up on her.

"What a bitch." Olivia says. She's here with Thresh and her kids. Johanna really likes Olivia. They've joined our group and we all get along great.

"Fine." Peeta says.

Johanna pulls her phone out and waves for silence.

"Hello?" the principle asks.

"Hi, it's Ms. Mason. I quit. You're a bitch." She hangs up. "There, now we can be jobless together."

"Johanna you're seven months pregnant!" I say. She shrugs.

"Well there's three positions open at the high school-"

Annie quits, too.

"Now this is true friendship!" Thresh snickers, and all of us laugh.

Peeta smirks. "They need two gym teachers at the high school, and they need a math teacher, for Algebra one."

"I could do Algebra." Annie says.

"They need a guy and a girl coach."

Johanna hesitates.

"If I switch to gym and Katniss joins me, Johanna, you can teach English."

"Awesome." I say. "I'm going to sign up."

Did I mention I'm so paranoid about extra baby fat that I moved to the floor and I've been doing crunches ad I've been going running?

I'm losing baby fat much faster than I expected to. Olivia joins me on the floor.

"And the gym teachers they need teach together but they have different rosters. If you guys hurry we can make it there before they close and we can sign you guys up. They've been trying to get me to change to the gym teacher anyways, and if I recommend you guys, it'll be good."

"This seems too good to be true." I say.

"That's because you're pessimistic." He says.

….a….

It was too good, but not to be true, because we were hired, and we have three months of maternity and they're going to keep the substitutes until then.

Our family is supposed to be coming back today for the holidays, and when we pull into the driveway, they're all here. We go in the door, and everyone starts fretting over me.

Mom puts her arm around my shoulders. "What do you think about your sister and I moving up the street? With three grandbabies here, I'll never last on pictures!"

I smile. "Yeah Mom, that's great."

"The only problem is Prim can't find a job. I'm set at the hospital."

"Prim!" I call. She walks over to me. "Want a job?" I ask.

"What?" Peeta asks. He looks confused.

"In three months, Peeta and I will have to go back to work. Do you think you can handle two thre months old and picking up a six year old on time?"

"You want me to be your nanny?"

"Yes. I mean, if that's okay with you." I look at Peeta, and he nods.

"That's perfect."

"Um…okay. Mom, I got a job." Prim says.

"I'll help on any da I have off." Mom says. "Three month olds aren't that hard."

"Prim that means you'll have to be here by six thirty and you'll have to pick Anna up at 2:45. You can't be late."

"I know, I've had a job before." She says.

After a couple minutes of hellos and greetings, Peeta leaves for the store. After a few minutes, I hear a faraway scream from Anna, and it's not a fake scream, it's because she's scared. "Mama!" Everyone spins around, and she's dangling from the balcony.

The balcony that is basically three stories high, and outside. In snow, which is slippery. I bolt upstairs to the balcony. She's crying. "Mama!" she whimpers. "I don't want to die."

I look down at the drop. I grab her little wrist. "Sweetie, let go."

"No!" she says.

"Anna." I say.

"I'm not letting go!" she yells.

"Annalise." I say. "Let go. I'm not going to let you fall."

Slowly, she releases the railing, and I grab her other little hand, and I pull her over the balcony. Haden is out here, too.

I bring both girls inside and downstairs.

"Mommy." Anna says, reading the signs of my anger.

"Anna, what…what were you thinking! You're nearly seven years old! You have enough smarts to know now to go out on the balcony alone, let alone to go to the edge!"

"Haden made me!" she points at Haden.

"I didn't!" Haden says when Olivia and Thresh round on her. She starts crying then, and I know that Anna lied.

"Annalise, are you lying?"

She picks at the pink polish on her fingernails. "Yes Mommy."

"Why? Why did you do it?"

"Because I wanted to show Haden that I can stand up on slippery things, so I climbed up on the chair and I stood on the railing and I slipped."

"You wanted to show off?" I nod slowly. "And then you lied."

"I'm sorry Mommy."

She's so clearly trying to guilt me. She's nearly seven years old. She knows enough to know right from wrong.

"Yeah, that's cute honey. Daddy may let you off the hook with the guilt trip, but not me. I'm played all those games and got medals for them. You're grounded."

"Mama!" she protests.

"No. Go upstairs."

She throws her head back and starts crying, and stomps her way upstairs, and her door slams.

Oh god, I fucking hate when she slams that damn door, and normally I'd go up there and yell at her not to slam the door, but I hear her yell sorry, because she knows I hate it.

"I'm sorry." Haden says.

"It's okay honey, you didn't do anything wrong."

I start to pace, wringing my hands. "Was I too hard on her?" I ask.

"No!" Finn says. "God, if Caitlin did that…" he sucks in a breath. "I'd make her jump and catch her an inch before she hits the groud just to teach her a damn lesson, and then I'd find some fvideo of some dumbass doing the same thing, and then I'd send her into the guest room, not her room."

"Yeah. She's probably up there with her toys." Mom says. Mrs. Mellark nods.

"When her father got in trouble, he would stuff toys in the floorboards or under his mattress of in his pillowcase. Anywhere I wouldn't look."

Peeta walks in the door then, puts the food away, and walks into the living room. He reads my face in two seconds. "What happened? Why is Anna crying?"

"Because she got the brilliant idea to try and walk on the balcony and nearly got herself killed because she wanted to show Haden that she knew how to stand on slippery things."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, an then she flat out lied and said that Haden made her do it."

"So why is she upstairs?"

"She's grounded." I say.

"Katniss…" he hesitates. "She's _only_ six."

"She's two months away from being seven, Peeta! For fucks sake, you can't baby her forever, one day she's going to think it's okay to have sex because you let her get away with everything!"

"I do not!" he says.

"Everyone that thinks Peeta lets Anna get away with everything, raise your hand."

Everyone raises their hand but him. He shoves his hands in his pockets.

"Alright." he grumbles. "I don't like the idea of her being grounded."

"Why?"

"Because I hated it as a kid and-"

"And your parents were touch on you!"

"You're tough on Anna!" he snaps.

"Yeah, hence the reason she's not a little asshole!"

"Peet, she's got a point." Reed says.

"Yeah bro, if you let them get away with everything, they're gonna do what they want. Before you know it, she'll be stealing the car at night and sneaking out in stripper boots with her boobs not in her shirt, and be going to some boys house and coming home pregnant."

He cringes. "Anna's a good kid." He says.

"Because your wife knows how to parent." Mrs. Mellark says.

"Mom, you're supposed to be on my side."

"Honey, you played on these games, and so did your brothers. I know the games."

He sighs in anger. "But she does the eyes and she cries…"

"Honey, I've been there and got all the medals. It's called manipulation."

"Anna would never!" he says.

'Really, because she just tred it on me and I called her out on it and she stopped."

"But I feel bad…"

"Well don't, unless you want her thirteen and pregnant, getting high, smoking, and drinking. If you keep treating her like a princess, she'll end up in that show Beyond Scared Straight."

"Well…how do I start being tough?" he asks.

"Go up there." I say. "And take all her toys."

"What! That's terrible!"

"She's playing with them, Peet! If you don't, she's not grounded; she's just in her bedroom!"

"But she'll hate me." he says.

"Yeah, she might say she does. That's because she's pissed that she didn't get her way. She'll thank us one day."

"Fine." He says.

"Don't give into her. Don't let the crying get to you! Just take them and leave. If she yells at you, you correct her and yell right back at her! Take your stance! Let her know you're in charge!"

He walks upstairs, and we're all quiet, listening.

"That's mine!"

"Did you pay for it?" he asks.

"No."

"Then it's not yours. You lied to your mother and you almost got yourself hurt. You're grounded, which means no toys."

"Fine!" she snaps.

"I didn't snap at you." He says. "Don't be rude." I smirk. Good. He's actually doing it. I hear a clatter, and then silence. "Anna, I said no toys."

"I don't have any!"

"Really? So if I look under your bed, or in the pillow case, or under the blankets, or under your mattress, there won't be any toys?"

I hear a shitload more clattering, and then her door shuts. He puts the toys somewhere and comes downstairs.

"I feel like a douche."

"Well don't." Thresh says. "She may say she hates you, but she doesn't. Haden's told me she hates me more times than I can count, but she doesn't. Haden, do you hate me?"

"No Daddy, I love you!"

"See?"

He sighs. "So if she asks for ice cream she can't have it?" I shake my head.

"No, that's called being an asshole." I say. "If she does something wrong, then no. Correct her every time she snaps, or she does something rude without correcting it."

"What if she does something really bad? I don't have to spank h-"

"No!" I snap. "Don't hit her. If you do, I'll divorce your ass and find some way to take her and I'll get a restraining order."

He puts his hands up in defense and widens his eyes. "I'm not going to hit her geez." He says. "I just wanted to make sure."

"Well that was an ignorant question." I mutter.

"I'm sorry." He says. I cross my arms and sit back on the couch. "What if she steals a cookie?"

"Yell at her for not asking and then when she asks, let her have it, but _only_ if she says sorry before she asks again."

"This parenting stuff is hard."

Everyone starts shaking their heads. "It's much easier than it sounds."


	27. Chapter 27

Peeta got the hang of the parenting thing pretty fast and I'm really proud of him for that. Anna keeps trying to know if she's ungrounded yet. It's three days before Christmas. I wake up smelling cookies. I hear everyone laughing and talking downstairs, and Christmas music, and I can hear a baby crying, and I know it's mine. The crying stops, and I get up and shower, and pull on a long sleeved white t-shirt with a Fort Bragg logo on it, and a pair of jeans, and them I brush my hair and let it flow ad brush my teeth, and go downstairs. Right when I get down there, Denver starts crying. The oven starts beeping, too. Peeta cooking them, and everyone is so enveloped in their game that they not do anything to help him, so I take Denver, accepting his kiss. It's already noon. I slept late. Anna is alone upstairs. It's been three days. I'll let her out. I change Demvers diaper, and he isn't hungry because he just has a bottle. I burp him and go upstairs. I let Anna out and come back down, and the doorbell rings, so I shut the music off and continue burping Denver as I open the door. I raise my eyebrows. She's crying, or had been, and dirty, and cold and obviously scared.

"Mama?" I ask, looking over my shoulder. "Can you finish burping him for me?"

"Sure sweetie." She comes over and takes Denver.

I stop her and whisper, "can you tell Peeta I'm outside with a girl from school and I might need him?" I whisper. She nods and walks away. I grab a blanket from the closer and go outside, handing it to Hanna.

She was one of our favorite students. She's the youngest in the freshmen, well now sophomore class. She's only thirteen because she was held back twice.

I go outside and shut the door, handing her the blanket.

"Hanna, what are you doing here?" I ask. "You live in Fort Bragg. It's three days until Christmas, honey."

"You and Mr. Mellark are the only people I could think of. You guys are such great people, and I feel like I can come to you for anything and I just don't know what to do and I need help." She shivers, even with the blanket on, and she looks kind of sick. I feel her forehead.

"Let's go." I open the door and go into the house, and she follows me to the kitchen. Everyone stares at her, and I stop walking. "Her name is Hanna. Don't stare." They all look away, and Peeta turns around and stops dead in his tracks.

"Hanna..." He trails off, looking at me for help.

"She has a fever, Peeta, and she's really cold."

He starts making hot chocolate, and I sit her down at the table and call for Mom. She hands Denver to me. I take him and Mom gives her some medicine. He's falling asleep, so I just hold him. Peeta hands her hot chocolate and makes her Mac and Cheese. She devours it.

"Hanna honey...you shouldn't be here."

Her eyes well with tears. "I don't know where else to go. You guys are the nicest people I know! My parents kicked me out."

"When?" Peeta asks.

"On Sunday."

It's Tuesday.

"How did you find us?"

She shrugs. "Facebook."

I sigh slowly. "Your parents..."

"They don't love me." She says. "And I know it. They tell me they hate me. My Mom tries but...he won't let her. I tried calling for help but..." She shakes her head. "It didn't work."

"Honey, if they find you here we can go to jail for kidnapping."

"So call the police and tell them that I showed up on your doorstep sick and crying because my parents kicked me out."

"Then they'll take you."

"I'll go into foster care. That's better than my parents house."

"Honey, I lived in foster homes from age mine until eighteen. Not one of them was good. You can't go into foster care."

"I have nowhere else. Please help me. Don't tell me you guys are just like the rest of them."

Peeta sighs quietly, and I shut my eyes. "How about you go shower and rest and we'll figure something out?" I ask, handing her some clothes.

She nods and I show her the bathroom and guest room, and then I check on Anna who never came downstairs. She's sitting on her bed with a book.

"Hi Mama." She says.

She isn't a very strong reader yet.

"What are you doing sweetie?"

"I'm reading."

"Okay. I'll be downstairs if you need anything. There's a girl in the bathroom and she'll be in the guest room. I want you to stay out of there."

"Okay." She agrees.

I kiss her forehead and go downstairs to Peeta. He's looking out of the window in the kitchen. His arms Are crossed.

"Katniss." He turns around. "We can't take her in..." He trails off.

Honestly, I like Hanna, but I really don't want to adopt her.

"I know. I like everything the way it is." I sigh.

"Maybe not all foster homes are bad-" he starts.

"No. I can't take that risk. I don't care if it's the devils daughter. No kid should be in a foster home. It makes you feel unwanted."

He sighs. "Well then we need to find someone to take her in."

I sigh quietly and walk into the living room.

"Who's that girl?" Prim asks, handing me my crying daughter. I grab the blanket off the back of the couch and cover myself so she can eat.

"That was one of our old students, who got here by finding our address on Facebook and then…I don't know if she walked from California, or what. She's thirteen years old and was kicked out of her parents' house for god knows what. We can't take her in, and I refuse to let her go to a foster home."

"Honey, sometimes you have to do something, even if you don't want to." Mama says.

I look at her in disbelief.

"She's not going to a foster home." Reed crosses his arms.

"She's thirteen?" Graham asks.

"Yes." I say.

"And her name is…?"

"Hanna." I say carefully.

He seems to think for a while. "Don't do anything until I get back, okay?" he asks. I nod. "I need your car."

I reluctantly give him the keys, and he walks out the door, clearly hurrying.

…..a…..

He takes a lot more than an hour. Anna comes downstairs and joins Haden and Caitlin with games on the floor. I put the babies in their cribs and when I come back down, Hanna is down there, clearly uncomfortable.

It's been about three hours, and Graham isn't back. He shows up about a half hour later. He shakes the snow from his hair, and has some papers in his hand. He sees her, and whispers something to Peeta.

"You sure?" Peeta asks, and Graham nods.

"What are you guys going to do with me?" Hanna asks.

I'm about to tell her that we don't know, but Graham cuts me off. "I'm adopting you."

She sizes him up. "Who are you?"

"He's my brother." Peeta says. "Looks like you're my niece."


	28. Chapter 28

We needed some more baking stuff, and since here was stuff in the oven, Peeta sent me to the store. Anna decided to tag along. I got the milk and eggs already, and we're in the baking aisle. I'm grabbing sprinkles and icing and cake stuff, and sugar and flour.

I let Anna get candy, and then I head home.

I got some stuff for dinner, and right when I walk in the door, Peeta's taking bags from my hand. He's ready for dinner apparently.

…..a…..

I went upstairs around eight. I have Denver on the left side of my lap, and Addaley on the right side of my lap. They're both asleep. And I'm reading my book. It's nice and quiet. The voices downstairs are loud, and irritating, but it's okay because it's quiet here.

After a while, the voices start to quiet down, and the silence is comforting. I shut my book and just watch the babies sleep. They're so cute. Addaley's lips are puckered, and her little hands are resting on her bellie. She's wrapped in her baby blanket. Denver has his pacifier in his mouth, and his other arm is above his head. Their feet are touching my belly.

I hear my door open a little bit, and I look up as Jo slips into the room and sits down next to me.

"I had to come sit down. They're loud and driving me crazy. Plus, I wanted to play music for my baby."

"I don't understand how you wanted a surprise."

She shrugs. We're talking quietly so we don't wake the babies. "I didn't want to know. If it's a girl, I think I'll make her Madison, and if it's a boy…well, I don't know yet. I think it's a girl."

"Do you want a girl?" I ask, and she shrugs.

"It's okay ether way."

"That's how I was."

I feel movement on my lap, and I look down. It's Addaley. I put my hand on her belly to secure her. Her face screws up and she's about to cry. Her hand hits Denver in the face, and at the same time, they both start screaming. Johanna takes Denver, and I feel Addaley's tummy. It's hard as a rock. She has gas pains. I shift her so she's laying downward on my arm, and I burp her. Peeta comes in to help me, and Anna follows him. Johanna leaves, and Anna lays down at the end of the bed and ends up falling asleep. We calm the babies, and lay them down.

I sit here, looking at my oldest, sleeping, and my youngest two laying down between Peeta and I, and then at my husband. Whoever thought that my bad past could shape me into how I am today? Whoever thought that my wonderful husband could make me unbroken? Whoever though that I'd have three kids? Nobody, but fate can do some expected things.

**That's the end. I was going to do a bully story, but I'll do that later. I'm going to do another story, and then there **_**might **_**be a sequel to this.**


End file.
